Pope Leo XIV needs no further treatment for lung cancer after final follow-up tests confirmed the disease was localised, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. The pope's personal physician, Dr Luigi Carbone, and his surgeon, Dr Stefano Margaritora, said the final histological reports and molecular biology analyses of the tissue removed during surgery confirmed a pulmonary adenocarcinoma — the most common type of lung cancer — and that it had not spread. "A subsequent oncology assessment confirmed that no further treatment is necessary," the doctors said, in the statement also reported by CNN.

Leo, 71, announced on October 11 that doctors had found a nodule on his lung and that he would have surgery to remove it — an unusually transparent disclosure that came as a shock inside and outside the Vatican, CNN reported. The nodule had been found by chance during routine abdominal examinations, Margaritora told Vatican News, according to AP. Surgeons at Rome's Gemelli hospital removed the lower lobe of his right lung on October 13, in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate, AP reported. He left hospital on Saturday, October 17 — four days after surgery and well ahead of the week-long stay the Vatican had initially expected — and led the Sunday Angelus the next day from the balcony of the Apostolic Palace, telling worshippers the experience had given him "a profound sense of closeness to all those who are going through illness or a state of infirmity," CNN reported. On Wednesday he held his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square, AP reported.

The all-clear removes the main cloud over the pope's planned South America trip next month. The Vatican has not officially confirmed the itinerary, but the journey is scheduled for November 6-17 and would take in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, requiring at least a dozen flights, two helicopter rides and high-altitude stops, AP reported. Margaritora told Vatican News he saw "no clinical reasons" to prevent the trip, AP and CNN both reported. Sources: Associated Press, Vatican City (Oct 21, 2026); CNN reporting the Vatican medical bulletin (Oct 21, 2026).