Daniel del Castillo González
In 2025, after 38 days in the hospital with bilateral pneumonia, Pope Francis stepped out onto the balcony of the Gemelli Polyclinic.
I see a woman here with yellow flowers. She's good.
Now, a year and a half later, the Gemelli is once again in the spotlight. Pope Leo XIV will undergo surgery there to remove a lung nodule.
POPE LEO XIV
The doctors think it's best to take action, so, following their advice, I decided to have surgery to have it removed.
At this time, it has not been determined whether the nodule is benign or malignant. But why Gemelli? To understand this, we have to go back more than six decades.
In 1934, Pope Pius XI donated 37 hectares to build the School of Medicine, which started with 70 beds and now has more than 1,500.
The relationship with the popes began on one of the most difficult days of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate.
On May 13, 1981, Ali Ağca shot the pope in St. Peter’s Square. The pontiff was rushed to Gemelli Hospital, where doctors performed a six-hour operation to remove a bullet.
This was the first of the Polish pope’s ten hospital stays. In total, Pope John Paul II spent 153 days there.
After his first hospitalization, he returned just a few weeks later to receive treatment for an infection; he remained hospitalized for another 55 days, the longest hospital stay by a pope to date.
Further surgeries and hospitalizations followed: he had a benign tumor removed from his colon in 1992, underwent surgery for a shoulder injury, and in 2005, his severe respiratory problems ultimately required a tracheotomy.
Pope Leo XIV’s announcement is also reminiscent of Pope John Paul II’s in 1992. The Polish pope announced during the Angelus that he would go to Gemelli Hospital to undergo some tests and would end up having surgery a few days later.
In fact, it was John Paul II himself who dubbed it “Vatican III.”
Pope Benedict XVI, on the other hand, was never admitted to Gemelli during his pontificate. He did, however, visit the hospital to see his brother Georg.
Pope Francis was the second pope to be hospitalized there. He was admitted to Gemelli four times: in 2021 for colon surgery, like Pope John Paul II; and twice in 2023, due to a respiratory infection.
He was then readmitted in February 2025 due to respiratory symptoms that progressed to bilateral pneumonia. This last hospital stay lasted 38 days, the longest of his pontificate.
And where is Pope Leo XIV staying inside the hospital? On the tenth floor, the same floor where Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis stayed. There is an area set aside on this floor for papal stays.
It’s an apartment measuring about 200 square meters, with various rooms, a living room, and a chapel.
From there, the pontiffs can receive visitors, pray, and continue to carry out some of their duties.
Pope Leo XIV is expected to remain hospitalized for about a week. Pope Francis also underwent surgery for a lung problem. When he was 21, part of his right lung was removed due to a respiratory infection.
Now Pope Leo XIV is facing lung surgery for a nodule, with his sights set on his upcoming trip to Latin America.
