Pope Leo cancels Assisi visit on doctor’s advice following lung surgery

(OSV News) — Following his doctor’s advice, Pope Leo XIV will not travel to Assisi Oct. 27 to mark the 40th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s landmark World Day of Prayer for Peace, the Vatican said.

In an Oct. 23 message published by the Vatican press office, the pope’s medical team, Drs. Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora, said a chest X-ray confirmed the pope’s “excellent post-operative progress.”

“However, given the short time that has passed since the operation, the attending physicians have deemed it appropriate to advise against, as a precautionary measure, the planned helicopter trip on Oct. 27th,” the statement read.

The pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital Oct. 13, two days after he announced that doctors had found a “small, localized nodule” in his lung and had recommended intervention.

Surgeons removed the lower lobe of the pope’s right lung and subsequent tests on the removed tissue confirmed that he had lung adenocarcinoma, or lung cancer. However, the medical team said Oct. 21 that “subsequent oncological evaluation confirmed that no further treatment is necessary.”

The Vatican press office released a follow-up statement confirming that Pope Leo would follow his doctors’ advice and not travel to Assisi.

Pope Leo had been scheduled to attend the closing day of the Oct. 25-27 interreligious gathering, titled “Disarmed and Disarming Peace,” a theme inspired by the pope’s own words.

During the visit, the pope was slated to join Christian leaders in the Lower Basilica of St. Francis for a prayer service alongside Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

Although he cannot travel, the Vatican said Pope Leo would send a message “to the organizers, leaders and representatives of Christian denominations and religions,” as well as to those attending the meeting.

The pope’s message will emphasize his conviction that “the ‘Spirit of Assisi,’ dialogue and the search for words and gestures of peace are precious resources in an age of conflict,” the Vatican said.

The gathering, organized annually by the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic lay organization, commemorates the historic Oct. 27, 1986, meeting that St. John Paul II convened, which for the first time brought together representatives of all world religions to pray for peace.

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