Experts said much would depend on how advanced the cancer found was, and whether it had spread, but the Vatican has said it was detected early and was localised which is important in these cases.
“When caught in early stages, then it has a very very good prognosis, which is what we’re hoping and praying for with Pope Leo,” Juanita Mora, medical spokesperson for the American Lung Association, told AFP.
The Vatican has said it expects the recovery to take around a week and all the pope’s audiences have been cancelled until Oct 20.
Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the dean of the college of cardinals, is due to celebrate an important mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday which was to have been held by the pope.
The surgery has raised questions about whether the US pontiff will go ahead with a lengthy visit next month to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, where he worked as a missionary for two decades.
The surgery marks Leo’s first hospitalisation since he became pope on May 8, 2025.
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