One week after Pope Leo XIV first revealed to the world that he would be undergoing lung surgery, the pope returned to the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace Oct. 18, thanking Catholics worldwide for their prayers five days after undergoing lung cancer surgery.
Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with lung cancer following a 90-minute surgery on Oct. 13 during which surgeons removed the lower lobe of the pope’s right lung.
Pope Leo XIV’s surgery to remove a lung nodule on Oct. 13 was completed successfully, the Vatican announced that night.
Pursuing a higher education that values human intelligence can help counter the many “false teachers” exploiting people’s deep yearning for truth, faith and meaning, Pope Leo XIV said.
The aim of World Mission Sunday (Oct. 18), established 100 years ago by Pope Pius XI, has “borne fruit in my own life,” said Pope Leo XIV.
In the Marian shrine of Lourdes, Pope Leo XIV prayed for the sick and the suffering and drank from healing spring water in the grotto where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858.
On the eve of his final day in France, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Leo XIV held a private meeting in Lourdes with seven survivors of sexual abuse.
Prior to Pope Leo XIV’s arrival to Lourdes Sept. 26, the sanctuary covered the mosaics of Father Marko Rupnik, the spokesman of the sanctuary confirmed to OSV News, sharing pictures of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary with mosaics entirely covered.
Addressing a delegation from the Special Olympics, Pope Leo XIV recalled his own great fondness of sports and invited them to live holy lives following the example of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, “who, in love with Jesus, knew how to translate values of sport into a holy life.”
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Brendan J. Cahill as the new bishop of Joliet, Illinois, succeeding now-New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks.
