Pope Leo XIV left Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic on Saturday, October 17, just four days after being admitted for surgery on his right lung. According to the news agency ANSA, he walked out accompanied by his doctors, greeted the crowd waiting for him and stopped to speak with some of the faithful before getting into his car.

The motorcade headed to the Vatican, where the pontiff entered through the Perugino Gate and returned to his apartment in the Apostolic Palace, which he had left on Tuesday to be hospitalized.

Before leaving the hospital, he celebrated Mass in the tenth-floor room that was set up as a chapel during his stay. The medical bulletin, signed by Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora, states that after blood tests, a chest X-ray and a clinical evaluation, he was deemed fit for discharge. The discharge came earlier than the one-week stay the Vatican spokesman had estimated. 

Surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung. Tissue analysis confirmed it was an adenocarcinoma, a type of lung cancer. Leo XIV, 71, announced on October 11, after the Angelus, that a routine exam had detected a nodule at a very early stage. On Friday, the medical bulletin reported “constant improvement” and said he could carry out his daily activities fully on his own. 

The Vatican Press Office said the pope will pray the Angelus tomorrow from the window of the papal apartment.

After the discharge, Italian President Sergio Mattarella sent a message on behalf of Italy wishing him a peaceful convalescence and a swift, full recovery. He noted the many expressions of affection from citizens and leaders of numerous countries, and the gratitude of Catholic communities toward the medical staff.

His South America tour remains pending: it is scheduled for November 6 to 17, with stops in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. His audiences had been suspended until October 20. There is no new official confirmation about the trip so far. ntn24extra