“The Vatican tends to keep these things under wraps, so there’ll be a lot of reading between the lines to try and detect what is the state of the pope’s health,” Candida Moss, the Edward Cadbury professor of theology at the University of Birmingham in England, told CBS News.
Leo is known for living an active and healthy lifestyle, including swimming and playing tennis, all factors that likely worked in his favor going into the surgery.
Leo had walked into Gemelli Hospital through the main entrance earlier in the day and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him. The Vatican said the surgery was performed by a team led by Gemelli’s chief thoracic surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora.
The Vatican on Monday canceled all Leo’s audiences through Oct. 20. There was no word on whether Leo would be able to keep his planned trip to South America next month.
The typical recommendation for a procedure of this kind is to avoid air travel for about three weeks, which would put the pope right up against the start of that trip, which is scheduled for Nov. 6.
Moss told CBS News that Vatican protocol calls for the pope’s cardinals and aides to step in and take up many of his duties as needed.
“We should also expect that, inasmuch as is possible, Pope Leo is going to continue to work,” Moss said. “We have a long tradition of popes — not just Pope Francis, but also Pope John Paul II, who had Parkinson’s for 10 years — who continued to remain as active as they could, and as active in Catholic liturgies as they could, right up until the end of their tenures.”
While Gemelli has a specific papal apartment that past popes have used, complete with a private chapel on the 10th floor, Leo will actually be staying in a nearby room since the papal apartment is undergoing renovations, according to the Vatican press office.
The Vatican had announced on Sunday that Leo would undergo surgery after a nodular lesion was found in his lung. A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 1.2 inches that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen. A nodule can be benign or malignant.
“The doctors believe it’s best to take action, so, following their advice, I’ve decided to have surgery to remove it,” Leo said in remarks during his Sunday noon blessing. “Thank you for your spiritual support, and I entrust myself to your prayers.”
