VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo pledged on Sunday (Oct 18) to slowly resume his usual activities as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics as he greeted crowds in St Peter’s Square during his first public event since undergoing surgery for lung cancer five days ago.
The 71-year-old pontiff had an operation on Tuesday to remove the lower lobe of his right lung, fuelling speculation about how his illness might change his 17-month papacy.
Smiling from a window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace as he spoke to pilgrims below in a firm, clear voice on Sunday, the first US pope thanked people across the world for their prayers and said he would now begin to resume his normal schedule.
“Having overcome this delicate phase … I will now gradually resume my activities, always with the help of God and your prayers,” Pope Leo said.
The pope, who was discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Saturday, came to the window in the palace unaided and held his weekly midday appointment as usual.
He also urged pilgrims waiting below under cloudy skies to set aside any selfish ambitions and serve God “without compromise”.
People in the square welcomed the pope’s speedy return.
Christopher Butler, 68, a parish priest from Leeds in northern England called Pope Leo a “great shepherd for the Catholic Church”.
“I’m concerned he needs to take time to make a full recovery but he’s obviously a very resilient man and keen to return to work, to lead the Church and to be a world leader,” Butler said.
Soledad Espinosa, 59, from Ecuador, said she was happy to hear that the pope would be allowed by his doctors to visit Latin America next month.
“We are all hoping for his recovery and that he has gotten through the situation well. We know that he is ok and we’re pleased,” she said.
Norma Grasso, 76, from Argentina, said: “We are waiting for him.”
Following the surgery, there had been doubts about a planned papal voyage scheduled for Nov 6 to Nov 17, to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, where Pope Leo spent two decades as a missionary.
But his surgeon, Stefano Margaritora, told Vatican News he believed there were “no clinical reasons why the trip should not go ahead”.
“ABSOLUTELY SATISFACTORY”
The pope’s discharge on Saturday capped days of uncertainty that rattled the Vatican and the world’s Catholics, less than two years into the Chicago-born pope’s papacy.
Margaritora said Pope Leo was in “absolutely satisfactory clinical condition”, estimating another ten days before he is fully recovered.
Margaritora told Vatican News that Pope Leo’s tumour had been discovered by chance, during a routine abdominal X-ray that captured the “little spot” at the base of his right lung.
While calling the lung operation “routine”, he saluted the pope’s commitment to his recovery, saying he “really put his heart and soul into it, like the most motivated patients”.
“His determination to achieve a very quick and very effective recovery from every point of view was really commendable,” Margaritora said.
The results of tests to determine whether the cancer has spread are still pending.
Pope Leo has resumed some work, making a call on Friday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky.