Rumours about papal health: when speculation is denied

It is not the first time unverified stories have swirled around a pope’s health. On 25 October 2026, Vatican sources quoted by Adnkronos and Tgcom24 denied reports that Pope Leo XIV would undergo immunotherapy. He will not. The 21 October statement by doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora still stands: localized pulmonary adenocarcinoma, “no further treatment is required.”

Two days earlier, on 23 October, GloboNews Vatican correspondent Mirticeli Medeiros had attributed to Gemelli hospital sources the claim that Leo XIV would receive preventive immunotherapy — referring to pembrolizumab — for at least three years (G1). That reconstruction already contradicted the official note. We covered the denial in today’s piece and in the updated timeline from the Gemelli surgery onward.

Papal health has long been a magnet for rumour: during illness, surgery or a Synod, anonymous “sources” and unverified reconstructions multiply. The pattern is familiar — rumour, denial by the Holy See Press Office or the pope’s entourage, then the facts, or silence. A few episodes from the past twenty years help place today’s case.

April 2005: John Paul II’s “flat EEG.”

On 1 April 2005, as John Paul II lay critically ill in the Apostolic Palace, the Italian agency Adnkronos — without a named source — reported that a brain monitor on the Pope had “gone flat,” showing no electrical activity. Other outlets the same day spoke of a coma. A senior Vatican official replied that the Pope was still alive and that no such monitoring device was in the papal apartment; ANSA confirmed there was no EEG there. Official bulletins from Joaquín Navarro-Valls described a “very grave” condition, but the flat-EEG and coma claims were never confirmed and were contradicted in real time (Al Jazeera; Tgcom24; ABC). John Paul II died the next day, 2 April: the clinical decline was real and publicly disclosed; what was false were the specific reconstructions about the EEG and a coma.

October 2015: Francis’s “brain tumour.”

On 21 October 2015, during the Synod on the Family, Quotidiano Nazionale reported that Pope Francis had a small, “curable” brain tumour and that a Japanese neurosurgeon, Takanori Fukushima, had visited him in secret, arriving by helicopter at the Vatican. The same day Holy See Press Office director Fr Federico Lombardi issued an official bulletin: after checks including with the Holy Father, no Japanese doctor had visited, no such exams had been carried out, no external helicopters had arrived even in January, and the Pope was in good health. Lombardi called the publication “a grave act of irresponsibility.” Fukushima’s side also denied ever examining the Pope (BBC; AP; Reuters). It remains one of the clearest modern templates for a line-by-line official denial of a medical rumour.

2017–2019: three rumours about Benedict XVI.

In mid-October 2017 social media recirculated a quote attributed to Archbishop Georg Gänswein portraying Benedict XVI as near death — “like a candle going out” — feeding talk of imminent demise. Gänswein said the circulating wording was “pure invention… false and wrong.” Press Office director Greg Burke posted the same day a photo of Benedict standing with visitors (Catholic Herald; La Stampa / Vatican Insider).

In February 2018 the German weekly Neue Post quoted Benedict’s brother, Msgr Georg Ratzinger, as saying Benedict had a nerve disease that was slowly paralyzing him, with fear it could reach the heart. On 15 February the Press Office stated that reports of a paralyzing or degenerative illness are false: at nearly 91, Benedict felt “the weight of years,” which is normal (NCR; AP).

In June 2019 rumours circulated of a mild ischemia or stroke. Alessandro Gisotti, then ad interim Press Office director, called them false. Days earlier, on 2 June, Pope Francis — returning from Romania — had described Benedict as lucid, with knee problems, not head problems (Catholic Herald; Catholic World Report).

2021: after colon surgery, the resignation “breeze.”

On 4 July 2021 Francis underwent surgery for diverticular disease; about 33 centimetres of intestine were removed. In the following months, whenever his health was questioned, Italian media recirculated resignation speculation. On 1 September, to Radio COPE, the Pope said: “I’m still alive”; on resigning: “It never crossed my mind.” He added that whenever a pope is ill there is “a breeze or a hurricane of conclave” (Vatican News). Not a false medical diagnosis, but a clear, sourced denial of health-linked resignation rumour.

2025: at the Gemelli, fake deaths and resignation talk.

Between February and March 2025, while Francis was hospitalized at the Gemelli for bilateral pneumonia (from 14 February), fake screenshots and posts purported to be Vatican News announcing his death. Social accounts repeated the false claim several times; conspiracy videos claimed to “prove” he was already gone. Fact-checkers and Vatican News editors clarified that the screenshots were not from official accounts. Cardinal Pietro Parolin told Corriere della Sera that resignation talk was “unfounded speculation”; Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández said there was no sense in pressing for a resignation. The Vatican also released an audio message from the Pope in hospital thanking people for their prayers — widely read as undercutting the death fakes too (Vatican News; The Guardian; PolitiFact). The illness was real and serious; what was false were the death announcements and the resignation plots.

What is solid and what is not.

The cases above show two levels. On one side stand official notes, signed medical bulletins and named Press Office denials. On the other — anonymous “Gemelli sources,” screenshots from unofficial accounts, attributed quotes later denied — caution is warranted until confirmation arrives. Reporting a rumour when it surfaces is one thing; treating it as established fact is another.

Back to today.

In oncology, immunotherapy can indeed be indicated for some lung adenocarcinomas, depending on stage and biomarkers. That clinical possibility may explain why speculative reports “guessed” immunotherapy. In Leo XIV’s case, however, the named doctors’ oncological assessment — and the Vatican sources quoted on 25 October — said it was not required. The official record remains that one: the denial and the timeline.

Sources: Adnkronos, 25 Oct 2026 · Tgcom24 · doctors’ note 21 Oct 2026 · G1 / Medeiros, 23 Oct 2026 · Press Office Lombardi, 21 Oct 2015 · Vatican News / COPE 2021 · Vatican News / Parolin 2025

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