Vatican Confirms Pope Leo's November 6-17 South America Trip Will Go Ahead: Recovery From Lung Cancer Surgery on Track
The Vatican said on October 26 that Pope Leo's trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, scheduled for November 6-17, will go ahead, indicating that his recovery from lung cancer surgery is on track and that doctors have judged him fit enough to make the journey. The Vatican said the trip would proceed with no changes to the previously published agenda.
"The Holy Father's recovery after the surgery continues, and the latest medical examinations attest to his good health and favorable clinical condition," the Vatican said in a statement, citing Leo's personal physician Luigi Carbone. "Based on his current clinical status, as well as the instrumental and laboratory tests performed, there are no contraindications that would prevent him from undertaking his upcoming apostolic journey," the statement said. The 71-year-old pontiff is recovering from an October 13 surgery in which doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung and diagnosed him with lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer.
Leo's South America tour is set to be one of the most intense foreign trips taken by a Catholic leader in decades: he is scheduled to travel some 31,000 km (19,300 miles) over the 10-city tour and give 36 speeches. The pope is returning to his duties gradually. On Sunday he addressed the faithful in St Peter's Square, but on doctors' advice he has cancelled a day visit to the central Italian town of Assisi that had been scheduled for Tuesday.
Source: GSM·USA
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：教宗良十四世在梵蒂冈接见来访者（资料图，非本次行程现场）。照片：CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Pope Leo XIV meeting visitors at the Vatican (file photo, not from this trip). CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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