Pope Leo XIV will not travel by helicopter to Assisi, Italy, on Oct. 27 for a peace meeting, the Vatican said on Friday, after his doctors advised against it as a precaution 10 days after lung cancer surgery. His tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from Nov. 6 to 17 remains on the calendar.
A chest X-ray taken Friday confirmed that his recovery from the Oct. 13 operation is going very well, his personal doctor and the surgeon said in a joint statement. They recommended skipping the flight only because so little time has passed since the surgery. The pope will send a message to the meeting, organized by the Sant’Egidio Community to mark 40 years since a 1986 day of prayer for peace.
The operation removed the lower lobe of the pope’s right lung. The Vatican has said a later oncology assessment found no need for further treatment, and the surgeon told Vatican News last Saturday that there were no clinical reasons the Latin America trip could not go ahead.
On Wednesday, when an Argentine newlywed couple told the pope at his general audience in Rome that they were waiting for him in Argentina, he answered in Spanish: “Argentina, here we come.”
In Argentina, Church sources involved in the preparations said the Vatican has given no instruction to cancel, postpone or reduce any activity. The pope is due in Buenos Aires on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 4:30 p.m. Invitations were sent this week for two events on Nov. 9: a meeting with union leaders, business owners and workers at the Catholic University and evening prayer with bishops at the city’s cathedral. A Vatican advance team is due in early November.