Pope Leo, Days After Lung Surgery, Phones Putin and Asks for Ceasefire in Oleshky

Pope Leo XIV picked up the phone from his hospital room on Friday, Oct. 16, and called Vladimir Putin. The operation at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung, took place on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

The Vatican said the pope "expressed his deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky, in the Kherson region, and called for a ceasefire to allow the delivery of food and medical assistance, and the voluntary and safe evacuation of the civilian population." He also "reaffirmed the Holy See's commitment to promoting dialogue and peace," the statement said.

Why Oleshky

Oleshky sits on the Dnieper River along the front line in Russian-occupied Kherson. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said some 2,000 civilians there need routes out.

Parolin said it was "the Holy Father who took the initiative" to make the call. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, he said he hoped Putin would "agree to do what the Pope has asked."

He added that the fact Putin accepted the call "may, I hope, be a sign that the Pope's request will indeed be carried out."

Ukrainian authorities say supply routes for food and medicine into the city are blocked. Kyiv has accused Russia of "deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe" there. Fox News reported that no humanitarian food deliveries have been allowed into the city since May, and that it has no electricity, gas or running water and a barely functioning hospital.

The Kremlin blames Ukraine. According to Fox News, Putin gave the pope a "detailed explanation regarding the Kyiv regime's responsibility for the difficult humanitarian situation there," the Kremlin said.

What Putin said

Russian news agencies carried a Kremlin statement saying Putin thanked Leo for his willingness to help resolve the conflict and for his humanitarian initiatives. He also wished the pope a speedy recovery. The Kremlin said Putin "supported" the Vatican's intention to help ease the humanitarian situation.

Supporting an intention is not agreeing to a ceasefire. The Kremlin statement described in the coverage does not commit Moscow to a truce, and no pause in fighting around Oleshky, aid corridor or evacuation window has been announced.

This was only the second Leo-Putin call. The first was June 4, 2025, less than a month after Leo's election. Pope Francis last spoke with Putin on Dec. 17, 2021. After Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, Francis's attempts to reach the Russian president directly were unsuccessful.

On Sunday, Oct. 11, Leo used his Angelus address to appeal to the warring parties to allow safe transport of grain across the Black Sea. "The daily bread of millions of people cannot be held hostage by war," he said.

The patient

Leo is 71. He announced Oct. 11 that doctors had found a "localized nodule" at a "very early stage" and recommended removal. The operation took place Tuesday, Oct. 13. Reports on Friday described the removed growth as a cancerous tumor.

On Friday he celebrated Mass in a makeshift chapel on the 10th floor of Gemelli, in a suite set aside for popes who need treatment. Off-duty medical and nursing staff attended. In his homily he thanked doctors, nurses and nursing assistants, the Holy See Press Office said.

The Vatican released its first photographs of him since the operation. They show him standing at the altar in green vestments. Vatican sources told EWTN News the pope distributed Communion at the Mass, after earlier statements said he had only concelebrated.

A medical bulletin signed by his personal physician, Luigi Carbone, and the surgeon who performed the operation, Stefano Margaritora, said blood tests and a chest X-ray Friday morning "confirmed the steady improvement in his overall condition." Respiratory physiotherapy continues. The doctors said his recovery lets him carry out normal daily activities "with complete autonomy."

President Donald Trump said he spoke with the pope's brother and asked him to pass along best wishes.

What comes next

The Vatican says Leo will lead the Angelus on Sunday, Oct. 18. It has not said whether that will be from the hospital or the Vatican. His appointments through Oct. 20 are canceled, and the Vatican has not ruled out that he could be discharged before then. For now, doctors have not changed the timeline for his release, which is expected to be next Tuesday.

His trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, scheduled to start Nov. 6, is still planned. It is unclear whether Putin will act on the request. Parolin has said publicly he hopes so, and no step by Moscow had been announced as of Friday night.