Pope Leo XIV is recovering in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung on Tuesday. The operation lasted about 90 minutes, and the Holy See Press Office said tissue examined during the procedure confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, which doctors had suspected from earlier tests. The pontiff is 71. The Vatican has not said what stage the cancer is at or given a long-term prognosis.
Recovery in hospital
Doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora reported on Wednesday that the pope’s blood tests and chest X-ray were within the range expected after surgery. He had resumed eating, started walking around his room and begun respiratory physiotherapy. The previous afternoon he concelebrated Mass in the hospital. Spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Thursday that Leo spent a good second night and ate breakfast. The Vatican expects a stay of about a week, and public audiences are cancelled until October 20. Plans for any further treatment have not been announced.
For Catholic families across the region and around the world, the early news is steady, if still incomplete.
Trump’s remarks
Speaking to reporters at Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport in Bullhead City, Arizona, on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said, “I want to see Pope Leo get well.” He called cancer “big stuff” and said “the prognosis seems to be good.” That was his own assessment; Vatican doctors have reported satisfactory early findings but no definitive prognosis.
Trump then turned to the pope’s older brother, Louis Prevost, who lives in Florida. He called him a friend and said of Louis and his wife, Deborah, “They’re big Trump supporters. They have MAGA all over their house.” The detail about the house is the president’s description, not something independently checked. Trump closed by repeating, “Get better fast.”
A history of friction
The praise for Louis carries weight because Trump has criticized Leo himself. On April 12, 2026, he posted on Truth Social that the pope was “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy,” adding, “I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA.” He also claimed, without evidence, that Leo would not have become pope without Trump’s presence in the White House. Cardinals elected Leo in May 2025.
Their disagreements have centered on the pope’s calls for peace, his objections to the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran, and the treatment of migrants. In November 2025 Leo said migrants should be treated with dignity while acknowledging that countries may control their borders, and he called some treatment of long-established immigrants “extremely disrespectful.” Louis’s views are his own and should not be confused with the pontiff’s. Trump and Vice President JD Vance met Louis and Deborah at the White House on May 20, 2025, shortly after Leo became the first U.S.-born pope.
The brother’s own illness
Louis is dealing with a health fight of his own. Deborah told CBS News on October 13 that he has multiple myeloma and is in a clinical trial after a relapse. He was first diagnosed in 2017 and treated in 2019. She said the brothers spoke before the pope’s operation but gave no medical view of Leo’s condition. Trump did not mention Louis’s illness in Arizona.
Sources
- Donald Trump Responds to Pope Leo XIV's Cancer Diagnosis by Bragging That Pontiff's Brother Is MAGA
- Trump wishes Pope Leo speedy recovery after lung cancer diagnosis, speaks highly of pontiff's brother
