Pope Leo XIV has announced he will be operated “in the coming days” after a nodule was found on his lung during a medical checkup.

“The doctors found an early, well-localised nodule on my lung,” he told the public during his weekly Sunday prayers in St Peter’s Square in Rome.

The 71-year-old pontiff said his medical team “believe it would be right to intervene” and he had agreed to the operation.

Pope Leo reassured pilgrims that the mass was “well-contained” and caught “at an early stage”.

He concluded his Angelus prayer by thanking everyone for their “spiritual closeness” and said he entrusted himself to their prayers.

Holy See Press Office spokesperson Matteo Bruni told the media that “the operation is scheduled for the first days of next week”.

Bruni added that the Pope is expected to take about a week to recover.

Vatican News, the Holy See’s news portal, said the operation will take place at Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

The 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.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “personal solidarity” to the Pope in a post on X as he “faces the ordeal ahead in the coming days”.

Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Provost, succeeded Pope Francis in 2025. He is the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter – and is the first American.

He was ordained in 1982 and spent years as a missionary in Peru, where he is remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities and helped build bridges.

During Sunday’s service, the Pope confirmed his visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru later in October will still go ahead.

UN Secretary General António Guterres on Monday called for a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians ahead of the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by the militant organisation Hamas on Israel.

“Let this anniversary mark not only another year of mourning, but also a renewed determination to build a different future,” Guterres said in New York.

The ‌‍‍‍⁠⁠‍‍‌⁠‍‍‌attacks triggered the Gaza war, in which more than 74,000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza.

A ceasefire has been in place since October 2025, although deadly attacks have continued.

Relations between the Israeli government and the United Nations remain deeply strained, with Israel accusing Guterres of bias and the UN chief repeatedly criticising Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

Guterres also paid tribute to the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks.

“Nothing can justify these atrocities,” he said.

“Their suffering, and the enduring grief of their families, must never be forgotten.”

The UN chief also highlighted the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza following the war.

“Their suffering, too, demands an end, now,” he said.

Guterres said the ceasefire had brought some relief but had yet to deliver security, adequate humanitarian assistance or a credible path to recovery and peace.

He urged all sides to fully implement their commitments and move to the next phase of the ceasefire.

“It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent. It is time to allow humanitarian assistance at scale.

“And it is time to respect international law,” he said.

“We must build the political path to lasting peace across the whole region.” 

Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola, a Kenyan citizen who has been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past seven years.

Health Minister Aden Duale said the patient, who fell ill a month ago, and was treated in several hospitals in DR Congo, died days after arriving in Nairobi.

Duale said the patient boarded a flight on Saturday and underwent normal public screening at the main airport in Nairobi before he was transferred by a relative to a hospital in the city.

More than 4,000 people have died from Ebola in DR Congo this year, in what is the second most deadly known outbreak of the disease.

Shortly after DR Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola in May, it was also reported in Uganda, where two people have died. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the county free of the disease in August.

Since then, all cases of the disease have been declared in DR Congo.

The current outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which is relatively rare, with no known vaccine.

Duale confirmed that the Kenyan national had tested positive for the Bundibugyo species.

According to the minister, the patient first travelled by road from DR Congo to the Ugandan capital Kampala, where he boarded a flight to Nairobi

Duale said that after being taken to the Nairobi Hospital, the patient was transferred to an isolation facility which was built during the Covid-19.

It was there that the patient “developed fever, chills, intense fatigue and weakness, painful swallowing, muscle pain and bleeding under the skin”.

The patient died at 23:30 (20:30 GMT) on Monday and his burial is planned for later on Tuesday in line with public health safety protocols.

At least 28 contacts, including family members and healthcare workers, have been identified, while health authorities are tracing a further 23 passengers and four crew members who travelled on the same flight.

So far, WHO has recorded 4,082 deaths out of 8,463 cases since the emergence of the Bundibugyo species of the virus.

There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the species, which is highly infectious.