Why is the Pope having Lung Surgery? Does the Pope have Lung Cancer?

Reported October 11, 2026 by the Vatican (Vatican News), Pope Leo XIV will undergo surgery to remove a lung nodule in the coming days.

The Pope stated the nodule was found during a recent medical examination, was detected early and appeared localized.

It must be said that this does not necessarily mean it is cancer.

It does mean his physicians are sufficiently concerned about the Pope’s nodule to recommend surgical removal.

Often a nodule will be biopsied before going to surgery. If a biopsy had been performed and had confirmed cancer, I suspect the Vatican would have announced that. This represents pure speculation on my part and everyone, even the Pope, is entitled to privacy concerning their healthcare.

Physicians may recommend removing a pulmonary nodule because of its size, interval growth, or imaging characteristics concerning for cancer. These include irregular or spiculated borders and certain density patterns, such as persistent ground-glass or part-solid nodules, particularly when the solid component is growing. (Click here for details).

A patient's individual risk factors also influence the likelihood of cancer. Factors that increase cancer risk include age and exposure to carcinogens such as cigarette smoke, diesel exhaust, asbestos, radon, or radiation.

At this moment, we do not have the necessary clinical information to know why his physicians recommended removing the nodule.

However, the fact the Pope stated it was found at an early stage is encouraging. If the nodule is lung cancer and the lung cancer is localized within a section of lung, then his chance of cure is high. In a large study, patients who underwent surgery for stage IA lung cancer had a 74.3% ten year lung cancer-specific survival rate.

So what happens now?

One scenario is that the pontiff will undergo robotic thoracic surgery, an increasingly common minimally invasive approach that I hope is available to him. Robotic thoracic surgery represents a remarkable advancement over traditional open surgery, allowing surgeons to operate through smaller incisions with greater instrument maneuverability and often a faster recovery.

For a patient undergoing lung surgery for an undiagnosed pulmonary nodule, one common approach is to begin with a wedge resection. A wedge resection removes a small, usually triangular portion of lung containing the nodule (hence the word wedge). While the patient remains under anesthesia, a pathologist can immediately examine the tissue using a technique called frozen section.

If lung cancer is identified, the surgeon may remove additional parts of the lung called an anatomic resection. An anatomic resection removes one or more of the lung's individual segments (called a segmentectomy) or an entire lobe (called a lobectomy). There are five lobes between the two lungs. An anatomic resection isn't always necessary, but for certain cancers, removing the entire involved lung segment or lobe can improve the likelihood of complete cancer removal and long-term survival. The surgeon also generally samples or removes regional lymph nodes. This surgical regimen is done to maximize the chance of removing the entire tumor and staging the lung cancer.

“Staging lung cancer” means determining where in a person’s body the lung cancer is found. Stage I lung cancer is confined to the lung without lymph node involvement or distant spread, whereas stage IV lung cancer has spread to distant sites in the body. This data is critically important to make sure the patient gets appropriate treatment to give them the best chance of surviving lung cancer.

I am hoping that the pulmonary nodule turns out not to be cancer. Lung nodules can be old scars, infections, lymph nodes or granulomas (particular collections of inflammatory cells). But if it is lung cancer, I am hoping it is stage I and this surgery will be curative.

However, even if it is lung cancer that has spread, advances in treatment offer hope. Modern immunotherapy has made it possible for some patients with stage IV lung cancer to experience what may be lifelong cures, something almost unimaginable just a decade ago.

Either way, if anyone has a reputed direct line to Heaven, it would be the Pope.

And if Pope Leo XIV does have lung cancer, he’ll likely bring more attention to the disease than some physician-scientist in a kilt.