Pope Leo recovering from lung cancer surgery; preparing for South America

Taking a live look right now at the Vatican that says Pope Leo is back to some of his daily activities after undergoing surgery for lung cancer. The Vatican reports positive signs in his recovery. In fact, the Vatican released new pictures of the Pope today. He celebrated mass at noon Rome time on the 10th floor of the hospital where he's currently residing and where there is a papal setup, including a private chapel. But questions remain about whether he'll need additional treatment and how his health could affect his upcoming trip to South America. For more on this, we are joined by Vanessa Corcoran, papal expert and Hub Director of Catholic Studies at Georgetown University. Good morning, Professor. Good morning. How surprised are you by the amount of video information and updates that the Vatican is sharing publicly about Pope Leo's treatment? Because historically, papal health has been somewhat guarded. Do you think this is changing? I do. When Pope Francis was hospitalized, information only came out after the fact. and Pope Leo made an announcement about his upcoming surgery on Sunday ahead of the surgery itself. And with these daily updates from his doctors, as well as the releasing of the photos of him celebrating mass this morning, it sounds as if the administration wants to be very forthcoming about his prognosis, about how he's doing, and also letting us know how people are reaching out to him as well they also released a couple of cards that children who are hospitalized that have sent to him saying that faith moves mountains one child cancer patient wrote to Pope Leo noting my mom and i pray for you every day we wish you a speedy recovery why do you think there is so much more information that they're sharing it's an era of transparency i think recognizing also that Pope Leo has captivated the world's attention beyond the Catholic Church and that there are a number of communities that are praying for his swift recovery, recognizing that in the era of social media, being forthcoming is also... Do you think Pope Leo will reschedule or scale back his trip to South America? I know people are very eager for him to make that trip, particularly to Peru, where he is a naturalized citizen. The trip is still on the agenda right now, and it is potentially possible that it's still feasible, but we'll be waiting to hear from the Vatican whether or not he can do that. Can you give us a sense of the level of concern about Pope Leo's diagnosis within the Vatican, and what, if anything, we can read from that? So we're 17 months into his pontificate, and this past year has had a lot of great successes for the Pope. He went to France, to Spain, an 11-day trip to Africa. He released a papal encyclical on artificial intelligence. and as this global traveler and writer and communicator he has managed to garner the attention of world leaders of the tech industry and because of this moral currency that he has right now of course people want to see him do well and recover and it was startling to hear because he's overall been regarded as a very healthy pope he swims he plays tennis regularly And so everyone is hoping for a optimal prognosis. For viewers who aren't Catholic, why does the health of the Pope matter beyond the church itself? So this makes me think about the new papal encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Magnificent Humanity, that he released earlier this May about safeguarding human dignity in the era of artificial intelligence. And this document has served as a moral compass for those talking about how do we live in the age of artificial intelligence and what makes us human? How do we preserve human dignity, the dignity of workers and laborers amidst a changing workforce in the result of artificial intelligence? intelligence that has a worldwide impact and this document that he's created has created an opportunity for compassionate coherent conversation around this singular issue yeah he's become a very visible representative or spokesperson for some of those humanist issues you just mentioned there Vanessa Corcoran, papal expert at Georgetown University we appreciate your time this morning great thank you