Pope Leo returns to Vatican after lung cancer surgery, recovery on track

Pope Leo returned to the Vatican on Saturday, four days after undergoing surgery for lung cancer at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where dozens of well-wishers saw him off with cries of "Holiness." "I am better, thank you," the pope said when asked how he was as he was driven away in a black SUV.

Leo, 71, had greeted patients inside the hospital before waving to well-wishers outside as he walked to the waiting vehicle.

He briefly stopped when a teenage girl presented him with a homemade papal doll.

His surgeon, Dr Stefano Margaritora, head of thoracic surgery at Gemelli, accompanied him to the hospital door as he was formally discharged.

Ten minutes after leaving the hospital, the pope entered the Vatican gates.

He is due to greet the faithful with the traditional Angelus blessing on Sunday, a week after announcing that doctors had found a nodule on his lung.

In an unusually candid disclosure, he said it would be removed.

Leo had the lower lobe of his right lung removed on Tuesday.

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