Pope Leo XIV Welcomes Patriarch Bartholomew Days After Cancer Surgery
Pope Leo XIV met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Vatican on Saturday, October 24, just eleven days after surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung in a lung cancer operation. The meeting marked one of Leo's first formal engagements since leaving the hospital on October 17.
Bartholomew traveled to Rome on October 23 and personally conveyed his fraternal wishes for a swift and full recovery. Leo thanked him for his concern, and the two leaders discussed matters of importance to their respective churches and to the wider world, according to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
"Humility before triumphalism, encounter before isolation, dialogue before division, and communion before nationalism." — Patriarch Bartholomew
The Pope's medical team confirmed on October 21 that tests following the October 13 surgery showed no further cancer treatment would be necessary. Leo had already returned to St. Peter's Square for his weekly audience that same day, a sign of how quickly his condition was stabilizing.
Doctors have nonetheless advised Leo to skip the October 27 peace gathering in Assisi, citing the recent operation as reason enough to avoid a helicopter journey. He will send a message to the event instead. The gathering, organized by the Sant'Egidio Community, marks 40 years since Pope John Paul II convened the 1986 World Day of Prayer for Peace and runs October 25 through 27. Bartholomew is expected to attend.
During his Rome visit, Bartholomew received an honorary doctorate in theology from the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, with Cardinal Kurt Koch delivering the tribute. In his address Bartholomew called for humility before triumphalism, encounter before isolation, dialogue before division, and communion before nationalism. He also returned to Rome's French Seminary, where he lived as a student, preaching at vespers in French.
The meeting between the two church leaders continues a pattern of deepening Orthodox-Catholic dialogue that both have publicly committed to, including joint commemorations of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea earlier this year.
