Pope Leo XIV is on the road to healing after his cancer surgery this week, but the sudden lung cancer diagnosis raises questions about the future of his papacy. Elected at just 69 in 2025, the first American Bishop of Rome was expected to have a much longer tenure than his predecessors. Fresh off a grueling pilgrimage to France and still scheduled for an 11-day trip to South America, does this show his resilience… or a sense of urgency before time runs out?
On this episode of Lighthouse Faith, papal biographer Elise Ann Allen shares her thoughts on the pope’s first major health crisis. Having interviewed him for Pope Leo XIV: The Biography, Elise reveals what the man is like beyond the papal mystique–and looks back to Lourdes, France, where Pope Leo drank from the miraculous spring water at the Grotto of Massabielle, wondering what he knew about his health even then.
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