Pope Leo XIV will not attend Tuesday's "Unarmed and Disarming Peace" interfaith gathering in Assisi, the Vatican confirmed, as doctors continue to manage his recovery from lung cancer surgery earlier this month. The Vatican said the Pope will instead send a written message of "closeness" to the organizers and the world leaders and faith representatives gathered at the Italian hill town long associated with St. Francis.

The decision to skip Assisi comes less than a week after the Vatican press office delivered the more encouraging half of the news: on October 21, officials said tests following his surgery showed Leo XIV would need no further cancer treatment at all. The surgery had confirmed he had adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer, according to CNN's reporting on the Vatican's announcement. Doctors will still monitor him with follow-up CT scans every three to six months for the first several years, then annually after that.

Resting at the Vatican, not Castel Gandolfo

Rather than retreating to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, Leo XIV is remaining inside the Vatican this week on his doctors' advice, limiting his public appearances while continuing his weekly general audience. Vatican officials have been careful to frame the Assisi absence as a precaution rather than a setback, noting that the pontiff's underlying prognosis has not changed since last week's all-clear.

A MESSAGE OF CLOSENESS, NOT A CANCELLATION OF THE MISSION

That framing matters because the Vatican has simultaneously been moving to reassure the public that Leo XIV's travel schedule is intact. On Monday, October 26, Vatican officials confirmed that his ambitious November 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru is proceeding with no announced changes, according to ABC7's coverage of the Vatican's confirmation. The trip would be one of the most physically demanding of his papacy so far, spanning three countries in eleven days barely a month after major chest surgery.

What's next

Vatican watchers say the coming two weeks amount to a real-time test of how quickly Leo XIV can resume a full workload. If the Latin America trip proceeds on schedule, it will be read inside the Church as confirmation that his recovery is on track; any further schedule changes between now and November 6 would likely reignite questions about his health that the Vatican has worked hard to put to rest. For now, officials say the plan is unchanged: rest this week, then fly to Montevideo in less than two weeks.