Pope Leo recovering from surgery, will deliver Sunday prayer

The Vatican on Friday announced that Pope Leo XIV is swiftly recovering from lung surgery and will make his first public appearance on Sunday, when he will deliver the traditional noontime Angelus Prayer.

Vatican representatives did not specify whether he would deliver the prayer at St. Peter's Square or from the hospital.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Friday that a recitation from the hospital was a possibility but would depend on Leo's post-operation recovery.

Leo, who is 71, shocked the world and its 1.4 billion Catholics last Sunday by announcing that he would be undergoing surgery within days. Two day's later, on October 13, doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung after the pontiff was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer.

Doctors are awaiting the results of Leo's biopsy, which will tell them about the make-up of the tumor and give insight into whether his cancer has spread, allowing them to determine whether he may need to undergo further treatment, such as radiation or chemotherapy.

On Friday, the Vatican said Leo was going about normal activities on his own and released photos of the pontiff saying Mass at Rome's Gemelli Hospital. He was seen wearing vestments and standing next to his personal secretary, Edgard Rimaycuna, a Peruvian priest.

"His post-operative recovery allows him to carry out his normal daily activities completely on his own," said a medical update signed by Dr. Luigi Carbone, Leo's personal physician, and Dr. Stefano Margaritora, head of thoracic surgery at Gemelli Hospital.

The doctors said blood tests and chest x-rays had confirmed Leo's steady improvement.

"At the moment, we have not received any communication from the doctors ⁠regarding ​his discharge, other than what we ​were told from the beginning about a one-week timeframe," a Vatican spokesman ​said.

"The question now is when he will return, under what circumstances he will return, and what the doctors say. And based on all these factors, the pope will then adjust his pontificate, if it needs to be adjusted," said Cardinal Parolin, who added, "We can't make any predictions."

One of the first questions raised by Leo's hospitalization and surgery was whether he would be able to go through with a planned papal trip to South America in just a few weeks' time.

Though this remains an open question, the Vatican on Friday said planning was "going forward" regardless, releasing the names of those journalists accredited to travel with Leo to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to 17.

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Edited by: Wesley Dockery