PRAYERS FOR LEO
A prayer was recited for Leo to have a good convalescence and complete healing during an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday following the surgery.
The pope has been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer, and doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung during Tuesday’s operation in an effort to eliminate all cancerous tissue.
Human lungs have five lobes – three in the right lung and two in the left.
The operation lasted about 90 minutes and was completed without complications, the pope‘s lead surgeon, Professor Stefano Margaritora, and his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, said late on Tuesday.
The Vatican has not disclosed the size of the tumour or whether the disease had spread to nearby lymph nodes, key factors in determining prognosis.
Dr. Serena Ricciardi, a lung cancer specialist at Rome’s San Camillo Forlanini Hospital, said that if the cancer had not spread to Leo‘s lymph nodes, the surgery may have been sufficient for treatment.
“If there are no further issues or lymph node involvement, we could consider the surgery curative,” she told Reuters. “The disease has been completely removed.”
Leo is relatively young for a Church leader. He enjoys sports, including tennis, and is not known to be a smoker or to have had recent health issues.
