Pope Leo XIV to undergo surgery to remove a nodule on his lung

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Pope Leo XIV has announced he will undergo surgery to remove a lesion on his lung | AP

Pope Leo XIV has announced he will undergo surgery to remove a lesion on his lung | AP

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday he will undergo surgery “in the coming days” to remove a nodule on his lung, in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate.

The 71-year-old Leo said the nodule was found at an early stage and was “circumscribed” or small and well-localized. The Vatican said Leo’s expected recovery time from surgery would be a week.

The American pope made the announcement during his Sunday noon blessing in an unusual display of transparency about his health. He thanked the crowd for their closeness and entrusted himself to their prayers.

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Pope Leo XIV tells crowd he will undergo surgery soon | AP

Pope Leo XIV tells crowd he will undergo surgery soon | AP

The Vatican didn’t say exactly when the surgery would take place, other than in the early days of this week. Leo has one upcoming main event: the closing Mass on Wednesday of a weeklong conference on family ministry, but Vatican officials suggested he might miss it.

A nodule can be benign or malignant

A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 3 centimeters (1 inch) that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen, according to the American Cancer Society. Often, the scans are done to investigate trauma or a lung infection, unrelated to a lung cancer screening.

“Lung nodules are fairly common and are often benign, but benign and cancerous nodules can have a similar appearance on........

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