Pope’s cancer is a ‘gamechanger’ for papacy, Vatican foreign minister says

Pope Leo’s lung cancer diagnosis and surgery have affected how Catholics view his health and papacy, the Vatican’s foreign minister said on Tuesday, in an unusual acknowledgement by one of the Church’s most senior officials.

Leo, 71, had part of one lung removed in surgery on October 13. His doctors have said the cancer was localized and had not spread, and the pope will not require further treatment.

Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister, said that given Leo’s relatively young age for a pope and his physical fitness, some Catholics had thought he was a “Superman” pope.

The illness revealed that Leo “is a poor mortal like the rest of us,” said the archbishop.

“I think that is going to change how we see him and possibly how he sees himself as well,” said Gallagher, a Briton who has served in his Vatican role since 2014.

Separately, Gallagher also addressed the recent ceasefire agreed by Russia and Ukraine to allow aid into the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Oleshky.

He said that while Leo had recently spoken with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he did not believe the Vatican was involved in arranging the ceasefire.

“I don’t think we were,” said Gallagher.