Pope to return to Vatican after cancer surgery
The Vatican said that Pope Leo "will leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican. Tomorrow he will recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment".
A drawing of Pope Leo XIV is laid at the statue of John Paul II outside the Gemelli University Hospital, where the pontiff is recovering after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung. (AFP)
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VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo XIV will leave the Rome hospital Saturday where he has been recovering from lung cancer surgery after doctors deemed him "fit for discharge", the Vatican said.
Leo, 71, has been at the Gemelli hospital in Rome since Tuesday, when doctors removed part of his right lung to extract a cancerous tumour.
"Considering the blood tests, the chest X-ray done this morning, and evaluating the clinical picture, the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge," doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora wrote in a note published by the Vatican.
The Vatican said that Pope Leo "will leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican. Tomorrow he will recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment".
The Angelus prayer is typically given by the pope from the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter's Square.
The Vatican press office said that Leo celebrated mass on Saturday, as he has in recent days, in a room on the 10th floor of the hospital where he has been recovering.
Outside the hospital, 12-year-old Ukrainian Varvara Struck told AFP she was rooting for the pope.
The former cancer patient said she had met the pope last year in Rome, "and he blessed me for a successful treatment."
"With his support, I’ve now overcome my illness, and I want to give him my positive energy so that he, too, can overcome his illness as quickly as possible," she said.
Up in air
But his doctors have said Leo's recovery has been progressing normally as they await the results of tests that will determine the course of action to take.
Leo has resumed some work, making a call on Friday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky.
Up in the air, however, is a planned papal voyage to South America, scheduled for November 6-17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
Vatican watchers say that Leo -- who spent two decades as a missionary in Peru, is anxious to make the long journey, but will likely follow the recommendations of his doctors.
Leo has cancelled all his audiences until October 20.
The pope announced to the public in St Peter's Square last Sunday, following the Angelus prayer, that a routine medical examination had revealed a nodule that doctors recommended should be removed.