Elisabetta Povoledo

ROME — Patients and pilgrims alike offered prayers Wednesday on the grounds of the Rome hospital where Pope Leo XIV was recovering from surgery that found lung cancer.

For at least 90 minutes on Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV was unconscious under general anesthetic, raising the question of what happens when a pope is incapacitated and cannot lead the Catholic Church.

The Vatican bureaucracy has been fine-tuned over hundreds of years to function smoothly even when the pope cannot.

VATICAN CITY — For at least 90 minutes on Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV was unconscious under general anesthetic, raising the question of what happens when a pope is incapacitated and cannot lead the Catholic Church.

Recovering from lung cancer surgery, Pope Leo XIV spoke with Vladimir V. Putin to make a plea for Oleshky, where mines and drones have trapped some 2,000 people who are at risk of starvation.

VATICAN CITY -- Just three days after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, Pope Leo XIV on Friday spoke by telephone with President Vladimir Putin

VATICAN CITY — Just three days after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, Pope Leo XIV on Friday spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to call for a ceasefire

VATICAN CITY -- When Pope Leo XIV arrived last month in Lourdes, France, he immediately went to the Grotto of the Apparitions, where tens of thousands of pilgrims throng each year in the belief that it will heal their illnesses.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Leo XIV was discharged from a Rome hospital Saturday, four days after surgery to remove a tumor from his right lung.

ROME -- A day after Pope Leo XIV left the hospital following surgery to remove a tumor from his right lung, he made his first public appearance