Pope Leo XIV is recovering after lung surgery

With Pope Leo XIV recovering in hospital on Thursday, following his lung cancer operation, questions are swirling about how the illness could change his papacy, fewer than two years after his election.

The 71-year-old leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics had a part of his lung removed on Tuesday and is undergoing further tests to determine if he is cancer-free or needs further treatment. In the meantime, the Chicago-born pontiff is expected to spend at least a few days recovering at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

In a note published by the Vatican, his doctors on Thursday said a chest X-ray "showed a good recovery of the operated lung". "The post-operative course is progressing as expected," they said. A Vatican source said the pope has been able to do some work in hospital and participated in mass at a make-shift chapel on the hospital's 10th floor.

He also met with the Vatican's substitute secretary of state for general affairs, Paolo Rudelli, Thursday afternoon, the source said.