Pope Leo rests after calm first night in hospital
Key takeaways
- Pope Leo XIV had a calm first night in hospital. The Vatican shared the update on Oct. 14.
- The pope stays in charge while he rests. No law hands his power to a deputy.
- He will stay in hospital for about one week. More test results will come in the next days.
Pope Leo XIV had a calm first night in the hospital. The Vatican shared this news on Wednesday morning, Oct. 14. He is resting at Gemelli Hospital in Rome after lung surgery.
This article gives the new Oct. 14 update. It also explains who runs the Church while the pope rests.
What happened
The Holy See Press Office gave a short update on Wednesday. Its words were simple. "The night passed calmly for the Pope," the Press Office said.
It added that more news would come later that day.
That was the first update after the surgery. The pope spent his first night at Gemelli Hospital in Rome. Staff watched him through the night.
Doctors removed the lower part of his right lung on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Tests during the surgery confirmed a type of lung cancer. We covered the lung surgery in full in our earlier report.
The Vatican also shared a small human detail. After the surgery, the pope asked for dinner. He spent the evening with his secretaries and other Vatican staff.
That came from Matteo Bruni. He leads the Holy See Press Office.
Doctors will run more tests in the next days. They will test the tissue that was removed. The Vatican has not set a date for those results.
The pope will stay in the hospital for about one week. That plan has not changed. His public meetings stay off until Oct.
20.
The Vatican has not shared two facts yet. It has not shared the size of the growth. It has not said if the illness spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Lymph nodes are small glands that help fight germs.
Leo is 71 years old. He likes sports, including tennis. He is not known to be a smoker.
A Mass took place in St Peter's Square on Wednesday. Cardinal Luis Tagle led it in the pope's place. The pope had approved Tagle last week as dean of the College of Cardinals.
He was the first Asian church leader to hold that role.
World leaders sent good wishes. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was praying for the pope. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wished him a full recovery.
Why it matters
A calm first night is a good early sign. It means the pope rested well after a big operation. Rest helps the body heal.
The news also calms rumors. Rumors are stories that may not be true. A short fact from the Vatican leaves less room for guesswork.
Cancer means cells grow in a wrong way. The lungs are the organs that help us breathe. In lung cancer, the wrong growth starts in the lung.
Then came a bigger question. Who runs the Church when the pope cannot? Many people asked this after the surgery.
The answer may surprise you.
The pope stays in charge. That is what the Associated Press found. No law moves his power to someone else.
This holds even if he is sick or unconscious.
Church law has clear rules for two events. One is the death of a pope. The other is a pope who steps down.
In those cases, power passes through set rites. A sick pope is not one of those cases.
There is no vice-pope. No deputy steps in when the pope is sick. The pope keeps his role and his power.
He was elected the 267th pope on May 8, 2025.
The pope leads 1.4 billion Catholics. He is the top earthly leader of the Church. When he is sick, big choices wait for his approval.
Day-to-day work still goes on. The pope shares this work with a team. The team runs the Vatican with or without him.
It works whether he is conscious or not.
The chief aide is Cardinal Pietro Parolin. He is the Vatican secretary of state. He spoke with the pope on Monday night.
He said the talk reassured him.
Parolin said the issue was caught in time. He also said he was worried by the news. Parolin was not even in the Vatican on Tuesday.
He spoke at a meeting nearby. That shows the system did not change.
One more office matters here. It is the camerlengo, or chamberlain. Cardinal Kevin Farrell holds that job now.
He runs admin and funds only after a pope dies or steps down. He has no role while the pope is only sick.
Canon law has a gap here. Canon 412 covers a sick local bishop. It lets another bishop run the diocese.
No such rule covers the pope. Canon 335 says nothing can change when the Holy See is entirely impeded. It does not say what that phrase means.
Past popes saw this gap. In 1965, Pope Paul VI wrote letters about it. He said cardinals should accept his resignation if he grew too sick.
The letters were never used. Pope Francis said in 2022 that he wrote a similar letter. Its text was never made public.
It is not clear if such a letter would count.
The Vatican also kept normal work going. It named two new bishops on Tuesday. Some events changed because the pope could not attend.
But the core work did not stop.
What happens next
The Vatican will share more news later on Wednesday. That update may give more facts on his rest. It may say how his strength is doing.
Doctors will keep testing the removed tissue. Those tests may shape the next steps. The Vatican has not talked about more treatment yet.
The pope will stay in the hospital for about one week. Then he will keep resting. His meetings stay off until Oct.
20.
One big trip is still on the books. The pope plans an 11-day tour from Nov. 6 to 17. It covers Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru.
It is not clear if the trip will still go ahead.
For now, the Church waits. The pope rests. The Vatican shares facts as they come.
The next update will tell us more. Watch for news on his rest and his strength. For now, the key fact is simple.
The pope had a calm night. He is resting. The Church keeps working.
This article is for information only and is not medical/financial advice.
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