Pope Leo leaves Rome's Gemelli hospital 4 days after lung cancer surgery

Pope Leo XIV is being released from the hospital on Saturday, four days after lung cancer surgery, and will deliver the traditional noon blessing Sunday from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square, the Vatican announced.

The 71-year-old Leo had the lower lobe of his right lung removed after doctors identified a suspected cancerous nodule. The surgery confirmed he had adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer.

His personal physician and surgeon said in a separate statement that Leo was "deemed fit for discharge from the hospital" based on blood test results and a chest X-ray performed Saturday morning, along with an assessment of his clinical condition.

He is set to leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican, the Vatican said in a brief statement.

"Considering the blood tests, the chest X-ray done this morning, and evaluating the clinical picture, the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge," doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora wrote in a note published by the Vatican.

"He will leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican. Tomorrow he will recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment," the Vatican said.

The Angelus prayer is typically given by the pope from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter's Square.

But in past years, former popes John Paul II and Francis similarly hospitalised at the Gemelli have delivered the prayer from the window of their hospital rooms.

The Vatican's press office said that Leo celebrated mass on Saturday, as he has in recent days, in a room on the 10th floor of the hospital where he has been recovering.

News that the otherwise healthy and sporty pope had a cancerous tumour removed from his lung has rattled the Vatican and the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

But his doctors have said Leo's recovery has been progressing normally as they await the results of tests that will determine the course of action to take.

Leo has resumed some work, making a call on Friday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky.

Up in the air, however, is a planned papal voyage to South America, scheduled for November 6-17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

Pope watchers say that Leo - who spent two decades as a missionary in Peru - is anxious to make the long journey, but will likely follow the recommendations of his doctors.

The pope himself announced to the public in St Peter's Square last Sunday, following the Angelus prayer, that a routine medical examination had revealed a nodule that doctors recommended should be removed.