After the lung surgery, the Pope began the post-operative course: Leone got out of bed, walked around the room, ate both breakfast and lunch, and began respiratory physiotherapy. And he also concelebrated a mass in a specially set up room on the tenth floor of the hospital. But above all he is in "good spirits", as reported by the director of the Vatican press office Matteo Bruni.
Everything therefore as expected and the doctors, Doctor Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora, in today's bulletin, let it be known that, after the results of the blood tests and the chest x-ray expected after the operation, "they confirm a regular post-operative course: the values are within the norm for the type of operation performed". Therefore, at the moment, there is also the expectation of a week of hospitalization starting from the moment of entry, which occurred on Tuesday.
So far the certainties. But it is on Leo XIV's future agenda that a big question mark remains, because much will depend on the histological examination, the results of which will take a few days. The spotlight remains on the trip to South America, from 6 to 17 November. A real tour de force between Uruguay, Argentina and Peru: 31 thousand kilometres, considering travel by plane and helicopter alone, to which would be added, in the cities he should visit, those by car.
Fifteen stops are scheduled, including Cuzco, in the Peruvian Andes, at 3,400 meters above sea level. Different climates, between one country and another, and even a trip to the Amazon rainforest. Not exactly a walk in the park after yesterday's surgery. "We have heard the Pope's words, his intention and his desire to go. Then we will see", spokesperson Bruni limited himself to saying, indirectly recalling the last Angelus, the same as the announcement of the intervention, where Leone also spoke about the trip to Peru.
Little else has transpired about the Pope's day. His collaborators try to defend his privacy and the press office does not confirm whether the Pope has met people, starting with his closest collaborators in the Curia. However, Leone has decided to send reassuring information to the people closest to him through his secretaries. "I received a message from his right arm: he was out of the operating room, he was awake, he felt good and was in no pain," said the Pope's brother, Louis Prevost, who lives in Florida and is also undergoing treatment for a tumor.
Pope Leo is "very serene", wrote his personal secretary, Monsignor Edgar Rimaycuna, in a message sent to Father Carlos Samamé, parish priest of San Juan María Vianney in Chiclayo, Peru. And even from the tenth floor, although maintaining the utmost confidentiality, confirmations of the Pope's serene state arrive, the same as he showed on entering the hospital on Tuesday morning.
According to what we learn, the Pope informs himself, asks the doctors for every detail but at the same time follows all the indications and suggestions of the medical team, confirming his trust in the professionals who in recent weeks, after three important medical tests - a robotic bronchoscopy with biopsy, a chest CT scan with contrast and a PET scan - had indicated to the Pope the need, and perhaps even the urgency, of this lung surgery.
Today the summit on Amoris Laetitia ends in the Vatican, for which Leo had summoned bishops from all over the world to Rome. "As you know - wrote Leone in a message addressed to them -, in these days it has not been possible for me to be among you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers and for the work you have done together".
