President Donald Trump said he wanted to see Pope Leo XIV "get well" following the pontiff's cancer diagnosis.
"I hear the prognosis for that type of problem, it's a cancer, it's big stuff anytime you have cancer," Trump said in comments to reporters following his Oct. 14 rally in Bullhead City, Arizona. But the prognosis seems to be good."
The pope underwent a procedure on Oct. 13 to remove a small lung nodule doctors had discovered during a recent health checkup. The Vatican later said tests confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, a common form of lung cancer, as doctors had suspected before surgery.
Leo, the first American Pope, has strongly criticized Trump and spoken out against the ongoing U.S. war on Iran. He has alluded to a world being "ravaged
by a handful of tyrants" and said that anyone who is a disciple of Christ "is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs."
In his comments to reporters following the Arizona rally, Trump said Leo's brother, Louis Prevost, is a supporter of his. Prevost appeared at the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House and has publicly supported Trump, with the president calling him "all MAGA" in Truth Social posts.
What to know about Pope Leo's diagnosis
Adenocarcinoma of the lung is a type of non-small cell lung cancer that occurs when abnormal lung cells multiply out of control and create a tumor, according to Harvard Health. It is the most common non-small cell lung cancer, accounting for about 40% of cases, and the most common type to affect non-smokers, according to Harvard Health and the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
Lung adenocarcinoma tends to grow more slowly than other types of lung cancer, making it more likely to be found before it has spread, according to the Lung Cancer Institute of America.
The Vatican did not specify what stage the cancer was in or if it was localized.
When this form of lung cancer is detected in the early stages and removed with surgery, it's highly curable, Dr. James Stevenson, vice chair of the Department of Hematology/Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute, told USA TODAY. Usually, the whole area, such as the entire lower right lobe in this case, is taken out to ensure that all of the cancer goes with it.
"The fact that he was able to go right to surgery would indicate that the testing before the surgery showed that while he did have a tumor in the lung, there was no evidence, at least before surgery, that there was spread anywhere else in the body," Stevenson said.
Contributing: Fernando Cervantes Jr. and Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY; Eric J. Lyman, special to USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump wishes Pope Leo well after lung cancer diagnosis
