DOMINANT ANGLE
La Paz is weighing the operation of Pope Léon XIV in light of the trip to Latin America planned for next month, the holding of which has become uncertain after the removal of a lung lobe.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The Vatican confirmed an adenocarcinoma of the lung after the removal of the lower lobe of the right lung of Léon XIV, 71, on Tuesday, October 13, at Gemelli Hospital.
- 02
The operation lasted about 90 minutes for three hours in the operating room, "successfully and without complications", according to the statement signed by Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora.
- 03
All the pope's audiences are cancelled until October 20 and the procedure raises questions about the upcoming trip to Latin America scheduled for next month.
ANALYSIS
La Paz, October 14, 2026. For the Bolivian press, the news of Léon XIV's operation is first and foremost a source of uncertainty about the pontiff's South American agenda. La Razón notes that the intervention "raises questions" about the upcoming long trip to Latin America scheduled for next month, and El Deber headlines the removal of the nodule "just a few weeks before his first trip to South America".
The medical facts are reported in detail in the Vatican bulletin. The 71-year-old pope was operated on Tuesday, October 13, at Rome's Gemelli hospital. "To ensure that the procedure was radical, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed," the statement indicates, specifying that the operation "confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as suspected from preoperative examinations". The text is signed by the pope's referring physician, Luigi Carbone, and by Stefano Margaritora, who heads the thoracic surgery team. The pope spent approximately three hours in the operating room, including 90 minutes of intervention, "with success and without complications".
La Razón adds details of convalescence from Vatican sources: the pope "woke up normally" and asked for dinner after the operation. He is expected to stay several days in his room on the tenth floor of the Gemelli. All his audiences are cancelled until October 20, including the large mass on Wednesday for the closing of a world assembly on the family, where he will be replaced. A Vatican source indicates that further examinations are underway to determine if the cancer has spread.
El Deber, which reproduces content from the BBC, recalls that Léon XIV himself announced the news from the balcony of St. Peter's Square, after the blessing of the Angelus, saying that the nodule was "contained" and detected "at a very early stage". A second article explains what a pulmonary adenocarcinoma is: a nodule is a small and localized lesion, often benign, and according to the American Thoracic Society, less than 5% of pulmonary nodules turn out to be cancerous, the risk increasing with age, size, and smoking.
The treatment of the aftermath remains open: no complementary treatment is mentioned in the articles, and the question of the Latin American trip remains without an official answer at this stage.
