Pope Leo XIV has said he will undergo an operation to remove a lump on his lung this week - an unusually personal medical announcement from a pontiff. He described the procedure as planned "in the coming days", and the Vatican press office said it would take place at the beginning of the week without giving an exact date. The 71-year-old is otherwise healthy and is known for his love of sport.

Timing of the operation

Italian media have speculated that the surgery could happen on Tuesday, but the Vatican has not confirmed a day. What is fixed on the calendar is Wednesday morning, when the pope is due to preside over a Mass in St Peter's Basilica with Church leaders from around the world. No changes to that schedule have been announced.

A pulmonary nodule explained

The lump on the pope's lung is what doctors call a pulmonary nodule - a small growth of lung tissue. Most such nodules are benign, meaning non-cancerous, though a small percentage can turn out to be an early stage of lung cancer. A few points on how they behave and how they are treated:

• •Most small nodules cause no symptoms and are discovered incidentally, during checks carried out for other issues.
• •Larger nodules can cause shortness of breath, chest pain and persistent coughing, sometimes with blood.
• •Surgery of this kind is normally done under general anaesthetic, with the patient breathing through a tube.

Recovery and the Latin America trip

According to the Vatican press office, doctors expect the pope's recovery to take around a week. That timeline is what makes the planned departure on November 6 possible: an 11-day trip taking him to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. Peru carries particular weight for this pope, who worked there as a missionary for two decades and took on Peruvian citizenship.

Gemelli, the popes' hospital

The operation is expected to take place at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where popes are usually treated. Francis spent weeks there before his death last year. Gemelli is Rome's largest hospital, and John Paul II - head of the Church from 1978 until his death in 2005 - was treated there nine times, spending a total of 153 days as a patient. He once quipped that the hospital was like "Vatican number three".

The Vatican maintains a top-floor apartment at Gemelli for the pope, reached through a corridor guarded by Italian and Vatican police. Besides the pope's own room, the suite reportedly includes a meeting room for medical staff, a kitchen, bathroom, rest areas and a small chapel.

For now, the Vatican press office has given no exact date for the operation, and the pope's Wednesday morning Mass in St Peter's Basilica stands as scheduled.