SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass this afternoon while still in the hospital in Rome. This just a day after his lung cancer surgery. The Vatican also issued an update on the pope's health. And with more on all of this is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Hi, Jason.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Hello.
DETROW: What's the latest?
DEROSE: Well, according to the Vatican, this morning Pope Leo underwent blood tests and a chest X-ray that are both required following surgery, and officials say the results are normal for post-op recovery. The brief statement goes on to say that the pope had respiratory therapy and that he began walking around his hospital room, he's resumed a regular diet and that his recovery is proceeding as expected.
DETROW: The news that Pope Leo had cancer really alarmed a lot of people around the world. What more do we know about the specific prognosis for this type of cancer?
DEROSE: Well, Pope Leo has lung adenocarcinoma, which is a very common form of lung cancer - about 85% of all lung cancers, in fact. That's according to Jonathan Villena-Vargas. He's a lung specialist at Weill Cornell Medicine. He says it's especially important that it appears the pope's lung cancer was detected and treated at this stage.
JONATHAN VILLENA-VARGAS: The prognosis and the survival after something like this is very, very good. So even though lung cancer has a big bad name, it really matters when you catch it. At an early stage, it's very treatable.
DEROSE: Villena-Vargas says that from at least what the Vatican has said so far, it does not appear the cancer spread, which is also very good. But we're still waiting on the final pathology reports to know for sure.
DETROW: Any sense what this diagnosis and the treatment could mean for his overall papacy?
DEROSE: Well, as you know, Scott, Leo is still very new as pope, just 18 months on the job, a fairly young pope at just 71 years old. But he's already had this really big papacy - the encyclical on artificial intelligence, multiple trips to Turkey and Lebanon, to Africa, also to Spain and France. And he's weighed in on global issues such as war and migration, even raising the ire of Donald Trump while doing so. I spoke with Susan Reynolds, who teaches Catholic Studies at Emory University's Candler School of Theology. She says facing a cancer diagnosis might bring something even more to his papacy.
SUSAN REYNOLDS: He has made a profound impact on the global church. But in other ways, it does seem like he's only just beginning. So I imagine that this will perhaps ignite in him a certain sense of urgency.
DEROSE: Urgency - for instance, Pope Leo has yet to appoint any cardinals, the people who will elect the next pope.
DETROW: Right. And you mentioned his travels there. He's scheduled to go on a big trip to South America for next month, including going back to Peru. What do we know about how this lung cancer surgery might affect that trip?
DEROSE: Well, at this point, the Vatican has not said anything about postponing that trip. In fact, the surgery was scheduled to allow him enough time to recover so that he could visit three countries there in October - Uruguay, Argentina and, of course, Peru, where he spent many years as a missionary and bishop. And just looking at his schedule, Scott, for next year already, he has a major trip planned to South Korea for World Youth Day.
These trips are intense and involve a lot of handshaking and public speeches and celebrating Mass for sometimes hundreds of thousands of people at one time. In fact, the trip to South America just next month involves 14 flights. So in the coming months and weeks, I'm going to be watching for any indication of whether those trips are being modified at all to accommodate Pope Leo living with cancer.
DETROW: NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose, thank you so much.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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