Pope Leo XIV to be discharged from hospital after successful lung cancer surgery today

JUST IN: Pope Leo XIV to be discharged from hospital today after successful lung cancer surgery, the Vatican says, four days after part of his right lung was removed.

Pope Leo XIV is going home today, four days after lung cancer surgery.

The Vatican says surgeons removed part of his right lung, and that the operation was a success. Four days from losing a section of a lung to walking out of hospital is a fast recovery by any standard, and the Holy See clearly wants the world to see it that way.

He was treated in Rome, where the discharge is expected later today. The word the Vatican keeps using is successful, and that matters, because a pope's health is never just a medical story. Over a billion Catholics look to that office, and every bulletin from the Gemelli gets read like scripture.

What we don't know yet is the longer picture, the pathology, the follow-up treatment, how much of his schedule he resumes and when. For now, the fact is simple. The pope had cancer surgery on Tuesday, and he leaves hospital today.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.