Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery Tuesday that confirmed that he has lung cancer, and doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican said Tuesday.

The tests confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin after the surgery. It said the diagnosis had been suspected by preoperative tests and was confirmed during surgery.

The 71-year-old was in the operating room for about 3 hours, the statement said. The surgery itself lasted approximately 90 minutes. "The surgery was successful, and there were no complications," the statement said.

Leo had walked into Rome's Gemelli hospital through the main entrance earlier in the day and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him. The Vatican said the surgery would be performed by a team led by Gemelli's chief thoracic surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora.

RELATED STORY | Pope Leo XIV will undergo surgery to remove a nodule on his lung

The American pontiff has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy. He revealed the discovery of the small, localized nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and announced that he would have it removed.

Oncologists said prior to the operation that even if the nodule turned out to be cancerous, Leo's prognosis is "excellent" since it will have been removed at an early stage.

The Vatican on Monday canceled all Leo's audiences through Oct. 20.

While Gemelli has a specific papal apartment that past popes have used, complete with a private chapel on the 10th floor, Leo will actually be staying in a nearby room since the papal apartment is currently undergoing renovations, according to the Vatican press office.

An air ambulance carrying six people may have been "coming in blind" with electrical problems when a storm loomed ahead of it early Saturday shortly before it vanished in the waters off Nantucket.

The pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency as it approached the coast on the flight from Bermuda, according to air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net. "Roger, you said you're coming in blind. Is that what you said?" a controller can be heard asking the pilot.

That makes Mary Schiavo, who is a former Inspector General of the Transportation Department, think the plane may have lost its navigational instruments just as a storm moved across its path on radar. The plane also descended sharply from its cruising altitude of around 24,000 feet to around 10,000 feet, according to preliminary data from flight tracking site FlightRadar24.

"Something bad happened with this big drop, and they flew into this big storm. It's a terrible place to have a loss of your instruments and be flying blind," said Schiavo, who is an aviation attorney. "It's very easy to get disoriented and not know if you're turning, climbing, descending, etc. Spatial orientation hits pretty quickly."

The Canadian-registered air ambulance jet had four crew members and two passengers aboard when it departed Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport overnight for the flight to Massachusetts, according to a statement from the Bermuda airport's operator, Skyport.

Four of the six people on board the flight that went missing early Saturday were Canadian nationals, the country's Minister of Transport Steven MacKinnon said on X. Transport Canada is closely monitoring and working with authorities on search and rescue efforts, he said.

The Coast Guard said the Federal Aviation Administration reported that the Gulfstream G100 had lost contact very early Saturday morning. The search for the jet included crews in the air and on the water, the Coast Guard said.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering information about the situation Saturday, but did not say immediately if it would investigate.