Posted inVatican Dispatch

Pope Leo needs no further cancer treatment, doctors say

by Gerard O’Connell October 21, 2026

Pope Leo XIV smiles and waves from the popemobile while riding around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience Oct. 21, 2026. Credit: CNS photo/Lola Gomez

Pope Leo XIV received good news today: The results of the much-awaited histological examination carried out on the malignant tumor taken from the pope’s right lung show that “the disease was localized,” and subsequent “oncological evaluation” confirmed that “no further treatment is necessary.”

The news was broken at 9 p.m. (local time)  Oct. 21, in a statement “regarding the pope’s postoperative recovery” released by the Holy See’s press office and signed by Dr. Stefano Margaritora, the surgeon who operated on the pope, and Dr. Luigi Carbone, the pope’s personal physician.

Editorial: Whatever high court decides, Catholic schools must choose inclusion

 

Opinion

Editorial: Whatever high court decides, Catholic schools must choose inclusion

NCR Editorial Staff

US Catholic voters see economy as major issue in upcoming election

 

US Catholic voters see economy as major issue in upcoming election

News

• 
  

  Brian Fraga

Greek life at Cornell can’t be fixed.

 

Shut Them Down

Greek life at Cornell can’t be fixed.

Griffin Oleynick

October 20, 2026

Politics

Please email comments to letters@commonwealmagazine.org.

A young woman holds a sign as some of the Cornell University students take part in a seven-hour sit-in protest in Ithaca, N.Y., October 6, 2026 (OSV News photoAngelina Katsanis, Reuters).

Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff’s recent interview with The New York Times—his first since allegations of gang rape at the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024 became public a few weeks ago—was clearly intended to convey the university’s resolve to learn from its mistakes, but his careful, lawyerly remarks were hardly reassuring. Despite his protestation that he was “personally sorry” for “the fact that Jane Doe experienced what she experienced,” and that he had “listened to and understood” the anger, he gave no indication that he or Cornell administrators were ready to accept any responsibility for the assault. Nor did he outline any substantive changes that might curtail the kind of abuses that have arisen at the campus’s fraternities and sororities over the past two decades. His remarks implied that there was little he could do beyond banning fraternity and sorority parties for the rest of the year, hiring a few extra staff, and pledging to keep listening. He seemed miffed that Cornell was being singled out for special scrutiny: “I think this is a problem if you talk to any university president.”

Catholic sister challenges JD Vance over ICE tactics, treatment of immigrants

 

Catholic sister challenges JD Vance over ICE tactics, treatment of immigrants

Dan Stockman  ncr

Congressman Jim McGovern: I'm a progressive Democrat because I'm Catholic

 

Guest Voices

Opinion

Congressman Jim McGovern: I'm a progressive Democrat because I'm Catholic

Jim McGovern   ncr

Vatican upholds excommunication of La. deacon who left church after son abused by priest

Vatican upholds excommunication of La. deacon who left church after son abused by priest

News

• ncr

  Camillo Barone

 

Posted inVatican Dispatch

Pope’s brother speaks about Leo’s cancer diagnosis and recovery in new interview

by Colleen Dulle October 19, 202

Pope Leo XIV speaks with his brother Louis Prevost and sister-in-law Deborah Prevost in the papal library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican May 19, 2025, after the pope's private meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance. Credit: CNS photo/Vatican Media

Louis Prevost, the eldest brother of Pope Leo XIV, spoke about the pope’s cancer diagnosis and recovery in an interview on Fox News this weekend.

“When they did the operation, they got all the cancer out,” Mr. Prevost explained, referring to the pope’s surgery on Oct. 13 in which the lower lobe of his right lung—about one-third of the lung, where a cancerous nodule was growing—had been removed. (The Vatican has not yet confirmed whether the pope is cancer-free.)