Pope Leo cancels all public events ahead of lung surgery

Pope Leo has cancelled all planned public events until Tuesday 20 October, ahead of surgery to remove a small growth on one of his lungs.The 71-year-old pontiff announced on Sunday that doctors had discovered a "well-defined lung nodule, detected at a very early stage and clearly localised". He will enter Rome's Gemelli hospital on Tuesday (13 October) morning, but it is not yet clear when the operation will take place.This morning, the Pope met with visiting bishops from Argentina, Nicaragua and the US, among others.In a meeting at the Vatican with members of a Rome-based charity ​group on Monday, Pope Leo spoke in a strong, clear voice as he thanked them for their work. Image: The pontiff greets visitors in the Vatican on Monday. Pic: Reuters Pope Leo XIV, who is originally from the US, has no previously known health problems and is known to be physically active, with weekly tennis games and swimming at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.The surgery will not affect his scheduled trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru next month, Sky News understands.The Vatican previously said that "the post-operation recovery will be around one week".Pope Leo announced the diagnosis during...