In surprisingly good form, Pope Leo XIV held the traditional papal public audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, Oct. 21. He spoke with a strong voice and sang the Our Father in Latin at the end—a striking performance a mere eight days after he underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his right lung. 

Significantly, however, he did not refer to his trip to Latin America, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 6, 16 days from now, just as he made no mention of it last Sunday in his first public appearance after his hospitalization. This would seem to suggest that he has not yet made a final decision on whether to travel; in the coming days, test results will offer clarity on whether the surgery has completely eliminated the cancer and what, if any, treatment the doctors may prescribe.

The first pope from the United States arrived in St. Peter’s Square in the white popemobile at 9:40 a.m. (local time), sparking warm applause from the thousands of Italians and pilgrims from many countries, including—judging by the national flags present—the United States, Peru, France and Poland, who were gathered in the square. They had started queuing around 5 a.m., notwithstanding the rain, which only stopped just before his arrival. 

Smiling broadly, Leo waved his right hand without difficulty as he rode among them. This was striking because it was the side on which the minimally invasive, video-assisted operation took place. He stopped several times to bless babies and seemed at times to even exchange words with people in the crowd. As he passed by, many shouted “Viva il papa!” or “León, León!”

Greeting the crowd from under a canopy on the steps of St. Peter’s, he began the formal part of the audience by thanking people for their prayers: “The first thing I would like to say to you is: Thank you! Thank you for the support of your prayers. Thanks be to God for his generosity. Let us all renew our trust in the goodness and mercy of God.” 

After a Scripture reading, he delivered a catechesis in Italian on the teaching of the Second Vatican Council about marriage and the family in “Gaudium et Spes.” It speaks about married love open to giving birth to children, the family and the social function of the family, defined as “a school of deeper humanity” and “the foundation of society,” and calls upon all those with social responsibilities, especially in the political and cultural spheres, to fulfil their duty to “work efficiently for the welfare of marriage and the family.” 

He emphasized the urgent need to give attention to marriage and the family and said, “the church is well aware of this, as shown by the pastoral concern” of all the popes since Vatican II “right up to” the two synods on the family convened by Pope Francis. Those synods, he said, “were addressed again in recent days” by the meeting of the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches and the presidents of the bishops’ conferences that Leo had convened earlier this month.

The formal part of a papal audience usually lasts 45 minutes, but it was shortened to 30 minutes today by omitting texts in Arabic and Chinese, and by reducing the summaries of his words in several other languages.

Before imparting his blessing, Leo led the singing of the Our Father in Latin.

Pope Leo then greeted several cardinals and bishops who had come to meet him and welcomed and stood for a group photo with more than 100 married couples—an unusually large number for a Wednesday public audience. By then, it was 11:15 a.m., more than 90 minutes after he first came into the square.

His presence and interactions here today suggest the pope has made great progress in his recovery; the surgeon who operated on him said the recovery could take about 10 days from his discharge from hospital last Saturday, Oct. 17, which means certainly before the end of October.

Before coming to St. Peter’s Square, he also greeted participants at a conference on “Holiness in History,” promoted by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and held at the Pontifical Augustinianum Patristic Institute right next to the Vatican. There, too, he read a prepared speech and said the people of God “seek models for living in the present—intercessors who can help members of the church face today’s challenges and recognize the opportunities they hold.” He added that “we must consider how the presence and witness of the saints have transformed history” by responding to God’s call in their own circumstances.

Last Sunday, at the Angelus, Leo said he is resuming his work “gradually” after the operation. Today, he seemed to have sped up.  

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.