Ukrainian teen cancer survivor Varvara greets Pope Leo XIV as he leaves Gemelli Hospital

Pope Leo XIV's discharge and Varvara's greeting at Gemelli

Pope Leo XIV left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on October 17 at 3:30 p.m., walking to his car unaided, after days of treatment that followed a lung cancer diagnosis announced earlier in the month, according to a Rome Reports report on the pontiff’s departure. As he emerged, 13-year-old Varvara — a Ukrainian girl who came to Italy for cancer treatment — was waiting by his vehicle and greeted him in person, an exchange Vatican News said lasted several moments amid cheers, applause and the support of a Ukrainian priest acting as interpreter.

A December embrace echoed outside the hospital

Varvara and Pope Leo XIV first met on December 31 during an audience in St. Peter’s Square, when she was suffering from cancer and awaiting surgery. In that earlier encounter she received the impression of strength and encouragement from him, Vatican News reported, and she later said the hug had given her the strength to overcome the illness she said she has now beaten. Rome Reports noted that, after that audience, she told him he had given her the strength to overcome the disease; she traveled from her home in Turin to pray beneath his window and to return that embrace.

Gifts exchanged at the car

During the greeting outside Gemelli on October 17, Varvara offered the Pope a photograph of their December hug in St. Peter’s Square and a stuffed toy similar to the one that accompanied her as she fled the war, Vatican News reported. The item she once carried as a refugee was given back to the pontiff at the moment he was being discharged from the same hospital where he had been treated for lung cancer.

Pope Leo XIV's return to the Vatican and follow-up schedule

Vatican News reported that, following discharge from Gemelli Hospital, Pope Leo XIV returned to the papal apartments in Vatican City State, where he is scheduled to lead the Angelus on Sunday. The pontiff’s broader medical course — including whether chemotherapy will follow his lung surgery — had been the subject of prior reporting that Rome Reports flagged without confirming a final treatment plan.

Source notes and uncertainty

The two lead sources agree on the core October 17 greeting and on Varvara’s identity as a 13-year-old Ukrainian cancer patient first embraced on December 31, though they differ on a few details. Rome Reports placed departure time at 3:30 p.m. and described her travel from Turin to pray beneath his window and to return the hug; Vatican News emphasized the gifts of a photo and stuffed toy and the interpreter’s role. Whether the Pope himself described the meeting to media, and any specifics of follow-up oncology care, were not established in the supplied reporting.