The Vatican said Pope Leo XIV’s recovery after surgery is “proceeding as normal” and will last one week. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, spoke to journalists on Wednesday regarding the pope’s recovery after surgery to remove a lung nodule. “He is having a normal postoperative course, and his blood values are within the normal range for the type of operation the Pope underwent,” Bruni said to the journalists gathered. When journalists asked whether Leo’s trip to South America would be modified or canceled, Bruni said the trip would proceed as planned. “What I told you previously still stands. We have heard the Pope’s words about the trip, namely, his intention, his desire, and also the fact that he intends to go.”
Before Bruni met with journalists, the Holy See Press Office published the following statement regarding Leo’s recovery. “This morning, the Holy Father underwent the blood tests and chest X-ray scheduled following the operation. The results confirm a regular post-operative course: the values are within the normal range for the type of surgery performed.” The statement also added that the Pope “underwent respiratory physiotherapy and began walking around his room and resumed a normal diet, having breakfast and lunch.” The pontiff also, according to the statement, “underwent respiratory physiotherapy and began walking around his room.”After his physiotherapy, the pope “resumed a normal diet, having breakfast and lunch.”
(Photo courtesy of Agostino Gemelli University Hospital in Rome. ARIANA PERNÍA/VATICAN NEWS)