VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV left hospital to enthusiastic cheers and applause from well-wishers and returned home to the Vatican on Saturday, four days after undergoing surgery for lung cancer.

The 71-year-old pope was seen crossing the lobby of the Gemelli hospital on foot and exiting the building, smiling as he shook hands and waved. He spoke briefly to the doctors who treated him and hospital officials before pausing to speak with a Ukrainian girl, a cancer survivor who wanted to wish him well in his recovery.

Soon after leaving the hospital, the pope’s black SUV was seen driving through a side entrance to the Vatican. Pope Leo’s discharge capped five days of uncertainty that rattled the Vatican and the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, less than two years into the Chicago-born pope’s papacy.

Earlier on Saturday, Leo’s doctors said the pope was “fit for discharge”, according to the Vatican. He had been at the Gemelli hospital north of the Vatican since Tuesday when doctors removed part of his right lung to extract a cancerous tumour. “Considering the blood tests, the chest X-ray done this morning, and evaluating the clinical picture, the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge,” doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora wrote in a note published by the Vatican.

The Vatican said that Pope Leo on Sunday planned to recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter’s Square, as is customary. Before his discharge, Pope Leo celebrated mass at noon, according to the Vatican, as he has in recent days, in a room on the 10th floor where he has been recovering.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2026