“The night passed calmly for the Pope. Further information will be provided later today,” the Holy See Press Office said Wednesday, the morning after Pope Leo underwent a successful operation with no complications.

Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery Tuesday at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, during which doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung.

A statement released by the Holy See Press Office on Tuesday evening from Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora, the chief of thoracic surgery at the hospital who operated along with the medical team, said the surgeons removed the lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung. “To ensure a radical resection, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique,” it said.

Tissue examined during the operation confirmed the diagnosis suspected from tests conducted beforehand.

“An intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, as suspected from the preoperative examinations,” the doctors said.

Lung adenocarcinoma is a form of lung cancer.

Recovery and next steps

The Pope was in the operating room for approximately three hours, while the operation itself lasted about 90 minutes. The doctors said it was successful and there were no complications.

Pope Leo awoke normally after surgery and, following a brief period of observation, returned to his room on the hospital’s 10th floor, according to the statement.

Following the operation, Pope Leo asked for dinner and spent the evening in the company of his secretaries and other Vatican staff, according to Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office.

In the coming days, postoperative exams will be conducted on the removed tissue. The preoperative tests had already shown the doctors where and how to operate.

No change has been communicated regarding the previously announced one-week hospitalization.