On Sunday, October 11, Pope Leo XIV announced to the faithful, at the Angelus, that doctors have found a nodule on his lung and that he has decided to have surgery in the coming days (ANSA, Gazzetta dello Sport, RaiNews, Reuters). The date of the operation has not been announced: NPR writes that it is expected within the week, while some foreign outlets speak of a small nodule at an early stage. Tgcom24 stresses that no Pope had described his own illness in such detail before the faithful. The Pope’s doctor is Luigi Carbone, who previously served Francis. Mattarella, Meloni and Cardinal Zuppi expressed closeness. According to Tgcom24 the Gemelli in Rome has prepared a mini apartment for the stay: the hospital and the Holy See have not confirmed it.
A Pope’s lung operation is not a private matter: it can change his agenda, trips and audiences and puts the pontiff’s health at the centre of Vatican communication. La Stampa links the announcement to a trip and to appointments at the top of the Vatican, which could be affected. For doctors, operating on a nodule is often the way to understand its nature, and a pulmonologist told Il Fatto Quotidiano that “if it can be operated on, that is good news.” No source, however, speaks of a diagnosis yet.
For people in Italy the Pope is also an institutional reference point: the Quirinale and the Government have already expressed closeness and the agenda of the coming days could change. For anyone with doubts about their own health, the news is a reminder that a lung nodule is usually found through imaging tests such as a CT scan and that it is the family doctor who indicates the checks to be done.
Those who call for maximum transparency believe that telling the faithful everything strengthens trust and leaves less room for rumours, as in the case of other Popes who announced a hospital stay.
Others recall that a pontiff’s health is also a matter of privacy and that speaking before the full diagnosis can fuel speculation; La Stampa also reads in the announcement a calculation about the Pope’s agenda.
DailyDrop does not know the diagnosis and does not speculate about it: we know that there is a nodule, that it will be removed and that the Pope appeared serene (Meloni says she is “heartened by his serenity”). To watch today: the date of the operation, a possible medical bulletin from the Vatican Press Office and the effect on the agenda of the coming weeks.
ANSA · Gazzetta dello Sport · RaiNews · Reuters · Tgcom24 · la Repubblica · Il Fatto Quotidiano · La Stampa · NPR · October 11, 2026
The Pope: “I have a nodule on my lung, I have decided to have surgery.” The announcement at the Angelus, Italy rallies around Leo XIV
On Sunday Leo XIV told the faithful that doctors have found a nodule on his lung and that he will have surgery in the coming days. The date has not been announced: today details are expected from the Holy See and the Gemelli Polyclinic.
On Sunday, October 11, Pope Leo XIV told the faithful at the Angelus that doctors have found a nodule on his lung and that he has decided to have surgery “in the coming days” (ANSA, Gazzetta dello Sport, RaiNews, Reuters). The date of the operation has not been announced: NPR writes that the surgery is expected this week, and some foreign outlets, such as Channels TV, speak of a small nodule at an early stage. Tgcom24 observes that no pontiff had described his own illness in such detail before the faithful, and recalls that John Paul II announced at the Angelus one of his hospital stays. The Pope’s doctor is Luigi Carbone, who has already assisted Pope Francis and accompanies him on trips (ANSA, Tgcom24). Tgcom24 recalls the precedents of John Paul II and Paul VI, both of whom had operations, and Il Fatto Quotidiano retraces how, from Pius XI to today, the way the Vatican talks about the health of Popes has changed.
Reactions came within a few hours. The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella wrote that “the Italian people are close to you” (la Repubblica); prime minister Giorgia Meloni said she is “close to the Holy Father” and “heartened by his serenity” (Tgcom24, ANSA). Messages of closeness also came from Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (Cei), and from the Italian Islamic community, while the friars of Assisi called for prayers for the Pope (Il Fatto Quotidiano, Tgcom24, ANSA). Tgcom24 speaks of bipartisan closeness from politics, from the Government to the opposition. The news was immediately picked up by international outlets too, from Reuters to NBC News and the Guardian.
ANSA and la Repubblica explained how a lung nodule is discovered and in which cases the decision to operate is made; a pulmonologist told Il Fatto Quotidiano that “if it can be operated on, that is good news.” No source speaks of a diagnosis. According to Tgcom24 the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome has prepared a mini apartment to receive the Pope, but neither the hospital nor the Holy See has confirmed it. It is not clear how the agenda will change: the Buenos Aires Times recalls that the operation comes about a month before a planned visit, while La Stampa links it to a trip and to appointments at the top of the Vatican. Today attention turns to the date of the operation, to a possible medical bulletin from the Holy See Press Office and to the first changes in the Pope’s audiences. Three questions remain that the Vatican will have to answer: in which hospital he will be operated on, with what kind of procedure and with what recovery times. As far as the sources we have read show, the Holy See has not yet released a medical bulletin, and DailyDrop does not speculate about the Pope’s state of health.