ROME — A scheduled official audience between Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader and Pope Leo XIV during Abinader’s state visit to Vatican City has been called off, following the pontiff’s unexpected lung surgery earlier this week. The presidential diplomatic visit will still move forward, however, with a confirmed meeting between Abinader and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, set to take place Thursday.
The papal audience was originally locked in for October 15, the centerpiece of Abinader’s planned itinerary during his official trip to the Vatican. Just two days before the scheduled meeting, on October 13, Pope Leo XIV was admitted to Rome’s Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic for surgery, forcing the Vatican to pause all of the pontiff’s scheduled public and official engagements.
Vatican officials confirmed that the procedure was performed to remove the lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung, after medical imaging detected a lesion that was subsequently diagnosed as pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Per updates from the Vatican, the surgery went according to plan and no complications arose during the operation.
An official medical update issued Wednesday confirmed that the Pope’s post-operative recovery is progressing as expected. Diagnostic tests including blood work and chest X-rays have returned results consistent with a normal recovery process. The pontiff has already begun short walks around his hospital room, started respiratory physiotherapy to support healing, and has returned to his regular diet. Current medical projections expect Pope Leo XIV will remain in the hospital for approximately one week to complete his initial post-operative recovery period.
Even with the cancellation of the high-profile papal audience, Abinader has opted to retain his pre-scheduled meeting with Cardinal Parolin, one of the most senior and influential figures in the Holy See’s leadership and a central player in Vatican diplomatic affairs. The closed-door private meeting will remain on the official itinerary, with only designated photographers from both the Dominican government and the Holy See permitted to attend to capture official images for record-keeping.
Abinader’s visit to the Vatican was designed to advance diplomatic and bilateral ties between the Dominican Republic, the Holy See, and Italy, while opening space for dialogue on a range of issues that are of shared interest to all parties. The decision to keep the meeting with Parolin on the agenda allows the Dominican Republic’s key diplomatic objectives for the trip to move forward, even after the sudden change in plans prompted by the Pope’s unexpected medical procedure.