Leo XIV walks out of Gemelli on his own four days after losing part of a lung

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Pope Leo XIV is back home sooner than almost anyone expected. The 71 year old left Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Saturday, walking to his car without help and pausing to chat with people who had gathered outside. On Tuesday, surgeons spent about 90 minutes removing the lower lobe of his right lung, where a cancerous growth had been found. His doctors say blood work and a chest X-ray show steady improvement. What we still don't know is whether the cancer has spread. Those test results haven't been released yet. He wasn't exactly resting in his room, either. On Friday he said Mass for hospital staff and handed out communion. He also called Vladimir Putin, their first conversation since June 2025, and pushed for dialogue and peace. He asked for a humanitarian pause in the occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky so people could get out and food and medicine could get in. His calendar had been wiped clean through October 20, so seeing him back at the window for the Angelus on Sunday will be a big moment for Catholics everywhere. People close to him say he really wants to keep his early November trip to Latin America, including a stop in Peru, where he spent years as a missionary. Whether doctors will clear him to fly is still an open question.