The "health variable" now breaks into Leo's pontificate

Less than a year and a half after the election to the papal throne, the "health variable" erupts in the papacy of Leo The news is well known: a first statement released around 8pm on October 13th said that the operation had been successful and the Pope had been brought back to his room. Well. Then two hours later the Vatican bulletin gave an element that until then had been in the background but never made explicit: the nodule was an adenocarcinoma, a malignant tumor.

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The overall picture, which will have to be carefully evaluated in all its elements, so it is still early to draw conclusions (it is not an evaluation of the writer but of expert doctors consulted directly and of interviews in many press organs), objectively changes.

The operation, as mentioned, was successful. In reality the operation that Prevost underwent, certainly delicate, is not considered by expert surgeons to be particularly "difficult", as it would be if other organs were involved. So we can say that its success was not in question, also given the high qualification of the team (which, as we learned later, but it was clear from before, already had a clear idea of ​​what it was about, given that a CT scan had been carried out which is not at all a routine exam as had been attempted to pass off). The issue was the nature of the nodule, which was immediately verified, a necessary step to decide whether to remove the lung lobe.

Now the unknown is the most in-depth and detailed histological examination, and it will take two weeks to check whether there are lymph nodes affected by the tumor and other elements. Based on these results, doctors will decide whether to proceed with therapies, from chemo to immuno (or even molecular), and to what extent.