Pope Leo XIV Retains Papal Authority While Recovering From Lung Surgery

Pope Leo XIV, elected as the 267th pope on May 8, 2025, underwent surgery this week to remove a lung nodule, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The Catholic Herald, in its week-in-review report, said the procedure was performed on Tuesday and involved removing the lower lobe of the pope’s right lung. The Herald described the nodule as cancerous and said initial suspicions of malignancy were confirmed after surgery. The nodule had been detected during routine medical examinations, and the surgery was reported to have proceeded without complications.

The Democrat-Gazette reported that Leo was under general anesthesia at Rome’s Gemelli hospital and that he retained his position as head of the Catholic Church during the procedure. The Herald reported that the pope is recovering well. The Democrat-Gazette did not describe his condition after surgery in the same terms.

The Democrat-Gazette said that, under canon law, the pope’s status, role and power remain unchanged regardless of his physical condition. It said Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin helps manage the daily operations of the Vatican and the wider church. Parolin was not in Rome during the hospitalization because he was attending a conference nearby, the report said.

The Democrat-Gazette noted that Canon 335 states that when the Holy See is “vacant or entirely impeded,” church governance remains unchanged, but that the canon does not define “entirely impeded.” It also recalled that in 2022 Pope Francis confirmed he had written a letter of resignation to be invoked if he became medically incapacitated. That letter was given to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and later passed to Parolin’s office, the report said. Weighing such accounts carefully, as Proverbs 18:17 counsels, matters when questions about church leadership turn on the wording of canon law.

The Catholic Herald reported that the Vatican has not issued detailed updates on the pope’s condition.