The Vatican has released this Friday, October 16, the first photographs of Leo XIV since he underwent surgery last Tuesday. In them, he appears standing before the altar, wearing a green chasuble and white zucchetto, celebrating the Eucharist alongside his personal secretary, Peruvian priest Edgar Rimaycuna. The Mass took place at midday in the room set up on the tenth floor of the Gemelli, and the Pope personally distributed Communion, according to the Holy See Press Office.
Several members of the hospital’s medical and nursing staff who were off duty attended, as well as agents of the Gendarmerie Corps of the Vatican City State. In the homily, according to the Vatican note, Leo XIV thanked doctors, nurses, and aides for the work they do every day caring for the sick in their fragility, and in particular for what they have done and continue to do for him.
This is the second Eucharistic celebration of the Pontiff to be made public since his admission. On Wednesday, barely a day after the surgery, he had already concelebrated Mass in that same room, which was set up because the chapel in that area of the hospital is under renovation, as InfoVaticana reported.
Analysis and X-ray confirm the progress
The afternoon medical bulletin, signed by Dr. Luigi Carbone, the Pope’s personal physician, and Professor Stefano Margaritora, head of thoracic surgery who led the operation, states that the Pontiff «underwent blood tests and a chest X-ray this morning, which have confirmed the constant improvement of his general condition». The text adds that respiratory physiotherapy sessions have continued and that postoperative recovery allows him to «carry out daily activities with complete autonomy».
The bulletin follows the line of previous ones. On Wednesday, the Holy See reported that the values were within the normal range for this type of procedure and that the Pope was already walking around the room and had resumed normal eating. On Thursday, the Press Office limited itself to reporting that he had spent the night well, had gotten up, and had breakfast.
A diagnosis that conditions the schedule
Leo XIV announced on Sunday, October 11, after the Angelus, that a pulmonary nodule had been detected in a very early stage. He was operated on the 13th: the surgeons removed the lower lobe of the right lung using video-assisted technique, and the intraoperative histological examination confirmed an adenocarcinoma, as the previous tests had indicated. The Holy See has not yet specified whether any further treatment will be necessary.
The Prefecture of the Papal Household canceled all audiences until October 20. The trip to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru scheduled for November 6 to 17 remains in place, as the Pope’s intention and desire, according to spokesman Matteo Bruni, the trip to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. The report on Amoris laetitia is also pending, which Leo XIV asked not to be published until he had examined it after being discharged.
In the afternoon, the Pope received Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization and dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Baldo Reina, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, at the Gemelli. The Press Office has also confirmed that the Sunday Angelus «will take place», without specifying for now from where the Pontiff will lead it.