What to Know About Pope Leo's Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Pope Leo during a trip to Madrid on June 7, 2026. —Dan Kitwood—Getty Images After discovering a nodule in Pope Leo XIV's lung, surgeons at Gemelli Hospital in Rome performed surgery on Tuesday that revealed the Pope has cancer.

Dr.

Stefano Margaritora, professor of thoracic surgery at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart, led the team that operated on the Pope at Gemelli, which has long provided care for Popes.

The surgery was prompted after the Pope’s medical team, led by Dr.

Luigi Carbone, found a suspicious nodule and performed tests that suggested it could be cancerous, according to a statement released by the Vatican.

During the 90-minute operation, Margaritora removed the lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung, and further testing of the tissue confirmed adenocarcinoma.

What is lung adenocarcinoma? Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer worldwide, accounting for 40% to 45% of lung cancer cases globally.

Adenocarcinomas belong to a broader category of lung cancers known as non-small cell lung cancer, which tend to grow more slowly and spread less quickly to other parts of the body.

Detecting adenocarcinomas early can help keep them from progressing to advanced disease.

How is lung cancer detected? Current recommendations in the U.S. and most of the world advise low-dose CT scans to screen for lung cancer in high-risk people only: those 50 years or older who have smoked heavily in the past or who currently smoke.

Many non-smokers are diagnosed with lung cancer when they get a chest CT for another reason, such as after an accident or other injury.

Some advocacy and patient groups are pushing for expanded screening among those at higher risk so that more people can benefit from early detection, including those who are younger and may have been exposed to other factors that can increase lung cancer risk, like radon in the environment .

“The best chance to cure lung cancer is when it’s Stage 1 and very early,” says Dr.

David Jones, chief or thoracic surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who was not involved in the Pope’s care.