Pope Leo XIV will be discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Saturday afternoon, just 4 days after an operation to take away a cancerous growth from his lung.
The Vatican said the Pope will give the conventional Angelus prayer and blessing to a crowd in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, as he did last week when he stunned the world by saying the surgical procedure.
On Friday, pictures were launched of the Pope celebrating Mass and distributing communion in hospital for workers.
An announcement from his docs said blood checks and a chest X-ray confirmed “steady improvement” following his operation.
The surgical procedure on Tuesday, which lasted for 90 minutes, included the removing of the decrease lobe of the Pope’s proper lung. The outcomes of further checks to test for any signal that the cancer has unfold have not yet been announced.
The Pope also spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, in their first call since June 2025. The Vatican said the call was to urge “dialogue and peace”.
It came as Russia’s bombardment of cities across Ukraine intensifies, with a growing quantity of civilian casualties and no signal of Putin being prepared to halt the invasion.
The Pope also called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Ukrainian metropolis of Oleshkiy, occupied by Russia and under fixed shelling, to enable people to be evacuated and for the pressing supply of food and medication. The BBC not too long ago reported on residents there being compelled to eat garden weeds to survive.
The Pope’s schedule has been cleared fully until 20 October, so his reappearance in public so soon is a shock and will be some reduction for Catholics around the world.
Those close to the Pope said he was eager not to delay a journey to Latin America, deliberate for early November and which contains a go to to Peru, where he was a missionary for many years.
It is not yet clear whether he might be match to journey or require further remedy.
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