Pope Leo XIV told pilgrims gathered for his Sunday noon blessing that he will undergo surgery in the coming days for a nodular lesion in his lung, an announcement that lands just weeks before his first planned trip to Latin America as pontiff. The 71-year-old, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago and raised in south suburban Dolton, said the lesion was found at an early stage and was circumscribed, and he asked for prayers, especially for his upcoming trip to Peru.
According to FOX 32 Chicago, which cited reporting from the Associated Press, Pope Leo XIV is expected to be hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where he is expected to receive treatment in a special apartment reserved for the pope. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope would be hospitalized in the first days of the week, with a recovery period expected to last about one week. The Vatican released no further details immediately, and officials have not said what impact the surgery or recovery will have on the pope's planned Nov. 7–16 trip to Latin America.
Pope Leo XIV has no previously known health problems, the outlet's report notes, and he has kept up an active routine that includes weekly tennis games and swims at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. The timing of the surgery, just weeks before his scheduled departure for Latin America, has left the fate of that itinerary an open question.
Why the Peru Leg Carries Extra Weight
The uncertainty around the November trip resonates especially in Peru, where Prevost spent decades as an Augustinian missionary before rising through the Church's ranks. He began his missionary work in the northern town of Chulucanas in 1985 and later served as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, acquiring Peruvian citizenship that same year, according to the Diocese of Joliet. Those pastoral roots run deeper in Peru than almost anywhere else he has served, which is part of why his planned stop there has drawn close attention even before the surgery announcement.
Before his election, Prevost also spent two consecutive six-year terms as Prior General of the worldwide Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013, per the Augustinian Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. The order had members in more than 40 countries and every continent. He had earlier led the Chicago Augustinians as Provincial Prior from 1998 to 2001, and in January 2023 Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, a post in which he vetted bishop candidates worldwide, as America Magazine reported at the time.
A Papal Suite With a Long History
Gemelli Hospital's 10th-floor papal suite has hosted pontiffs through major medical episodes for decades. St. John Paul II spent 153 days there across nine separate admissions and reportedly nicknamed the suite “Vatican III,” according to AP News. The suite has a private chapel reserved for popes. Pope Francis was also treated there multiple times during his pontificate, including a 10-day hospitalization in 2021 for colon surgery, a nine-day stay in 2023 for abdominal hernia repair, and an 18-day stay earlier in 2025 for double pneumonia. Pope Benedict XVI, by contrast, was never hospitalized at Gemelli during his papacy, the same AP report notes.
Pope Leo XIV's election on May 8, 2025, made him the 267th leader of the Roman Catholic Church, the first U.S.-born pontiff, and the first Augustinian friar to hold the papacy, succeeding Pope Francis after a two-day conclave, according to the National Catholic Reporter. The milestone made the surgery announcement resonate well beyond Rome, touching off concern in both Chicago and Peru, the two places that shaped his life before the papacy.
Dolton's Pope Keeps His Hometown Close
Dolton's Pope Keeps His Hometown Close In Chicago, Pope Leo XIV's ties to Dolton have only deepened since his election. The Village Board there officially designated his boyhood home at 212 E. 141st Place as a local historic landmark in December 2025, months after the village purchased the three-bedroom brick house for $375,000 to turn it into a historic and tourist site. The home is tied to the Prevost family's Dolton roots.
His connection to the city has also played out through his lifelong fandom of the Chicago White Sox. On September 29, ahead of the team's playoff opener, the White Sox received a personal letter from the pope addressed to chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, offering blessings and describing sports as a “school of life,” as Hoodline reported on September 30. That came weeks after the team's Pope Hat Night in August, when more than 38,000 hats were distributed for a sellout crowd.
Pope Leo XIV also graduated from Villanova University in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, Villanova University said. For now, the Vatican has offered no further details beyond the surgery timeline and the pope's own request for prayers, leaving the question of his Peru trip unresolved as he prepares for the procedure this week.
