The surgery is over and now the recovery begins. That is the plan for Pope Leo XIV who had a “good night” in hospital and has eaten breakfast as he recovers from lung cancer surgery, the Vatican said Thursday.

“The pope had a good night in the hospital. He got up and had breakfast,” the Vatican said in a short statement on Telegram as reported by AFP. It added tests showed normal results.

As Breitbart News reported, the 71-year-old leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics announced on Sunday he would undergo an operation to remove a nodule from his lung.

After the procedure at Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Tuesday, the Vatican revealed the growth was cancerous and that surgeons had removed part of his right lung.

On Wednesday, his doctors were quoted by the Vatican as saying that the pope’s recovery was “proceeding as expected”.

Gemelli Hospital set up a special Papal suite following the failed assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II’s life in May 1981, which is still in use today and is being used for the current Pontiff’s post-operative care.

A Vatican source said the Catholic leader on Wednesday had even celebrated mass in a specially prepared room on the 10th floor of the hospital.

America-born Leo has no previously known health problems and is known to be physically active, playing in weekly games of tennis.

The former Robert Francis Prevost also enjoys swimming at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.

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