Pope Leo’s cancer is ‘game changer’ for papacy, Vatican foreign minister says

NEW: Pope Leo's lung cancer diagnosis and surgery is a 'game changer' for his papacy, the Vatican's foreign minister says in a rare acknowledgement of the pontiff's health.

The Vatican's foreign minister says Pope Leo's cancer is a game changer for his papacy.

Archbishop Paul Gallagher said it plainly to journalists in Rome today, and that kind of candour about a pope's health is rare from an official at his level. Pope Leo, who is 71, had part of one lung removed in surgery on October 13. You can see him here. His doctors say the cancer was localised, it had not spread, and he will not require further treatment.

Gallagher went further. He said the illness has shown that the pontiff some had treated as a Superman is, in his words, a poor mortal like the rest of us. That is a striking admission from inside the Vatican about a man five months into leading 1.4 billion Catholics.

The medical news is good. The political message from his own foreign minister is that this papacy has already changed.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.