A cheering crowd at the hospital door
Pope Leo XIV was released from Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Saturday, four days after surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung, CBS News reported. He left through the main entrance, where a large crowd had gathered and cheered.
According to CBS News, the pope smiled, shook hands with several people and stopped to speak with a young woman who appeared to have a bandage on her right arm and was holding a doll made in his likeness. After getting into a car, he waved to the crowd. His motorcade arrived back at Vatican City at 3:43 p.m. local time.
The pope is 71. Earlier this week he had part of his right lung removed and received a lung cancer diagnosis. CBS News noted that no information about his prognosis has been shared publicly.
Cleared by his doctors
Leo had been expected to stay in the hospital until Oct. 20. Recovery appeared to move faster than planned. On Thursday he resumed some work activity, and on Friday doctors said tests confirmed "steady improvement in his recovery."
The Vatican announced Saturday morning that he would leave in the afternoon. In a separate statement, his personal physician and surgeon said Leo was "deemed fit for discharge from the hospital." They based that on blood test results and a chest X-ray done Saturday morning, along with an assessment of his clinical condition.
The Vatican also confirmed that the pope will recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment on Sunday.
An accidental discovery
In an interview with Vatican News, the pope's surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, said the discovery of the tumor was "entirely accidental" and that the pope had no symptoms. He said the tumor was at the base of the lung and that if it had been "a little higher up, it certainly would not have been seen."
Margaritora said the pope belongs to the category of people who find out they have lung cancer "entirely by chance," not through preventive screening but because they undergo examinations for other reasons.
Work continued from the hospital
Leo kept up some official duties during his stay. The Vatican released photos of him celebrating Mass in green vestments at a small chapel in Gemelli on Friday. The Vatican also said he spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin that day and "expressed his deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky" in Ukraine.
He also held separate meetings with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome.
The South America trip
Leo's planned visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in early November has been in question since he was hospitalized. Margaritora told Vatican News there is no clinical reason the pope should skip it.
On Friday, the Vatican published the names of journalists accredited to fly on the papal plane, which CBS News said signaled the trip appeared to be going ahead.
