A statement from Pope Leo XIV’s medical team at Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic, where the Holy Father underwent surgery to remove a nodule from his lung, requiring the removal of the lower lobe of his right lung, has confirmed that the adenocarcinoma in his right lung was localized, successfully removed, and that “no further treatment” for the cancer “is necessary.” Pope Leo is cancer free. Thanks be to God!
The full statement, as released by the Holy See Press Office reads:
“The final histopathology and molecular testing reports on the tissue removed during the Holy Father’s surgery were issued today. The results confirmed that the tumor was a lung adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. A subsequent oncological assessment has confirmed that no further treatment is necessary,”
Speculation was rife when tests confirmed that the nodule in Leo’s lung was an adenocarcinoma. Journalists were writing as if Leo was on his last leg, already speculating how this might diappoint the many who had hoped for a long pontificate. All of that can be laid to rest. Of course, few have any idea of when the Lord will call them home. But there’s no reason to think that Leo’s demise is imminent, or that it will be related to the nodule found in his lung. The cancer was completely removed.
A conversation I engaged in on the Fox News combox (I know! I know! Why do I bother?), there was a comment from someone who, apparently, is an atheist, asking why God didn’t just heal Leo, or why He didn’t prevent the pope from getting the nodule in the first place? I responded saying that that is not the promise God has made. And, it’s true. No where in the Scriptures does God promise that He will spare believers all the ravages of disease and death. The logical conclusion of such would be that everyone who has ever been a disciple of Christ over the course of history would still be walking the earth. Clearly, that’s not the case.
But what about Psalm 103:3, where it says, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases …” (Emphasis added). Okay, either the person who wrote this psalm, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, either didn’t know what he was talking about or was engaging in wishful thinking. No one much past the age of five or six believes that there is no disease for those who believe in God, or even that all who believe in God are cured of their diseases. People die. People who believe in God die. What could the verse mean? Clearly, it’s not talking about never suffering disease, for then a person wouldn’t need to be healed of it, right? But it’s not talking about every believer who gets a disease being healed, at least in this temporal order. Why do we know this? Because we regularly experience people getting diseases and not being cured. Either the disease is chronic, or the disease is fatal. So, the Holy Spirit must have inspired the composer of the psalm to write about the life of the believer in the kingdom, after we leave this temporal order. And, of course, he’s right! For those who believe, every disease will eventually be healed, when we come to share in the divine nature after the Final Judgement.
Another person then asked, if such were the case, what’s the point of “all this God/Jesus stuff?” Apparently, this person’s understanding of God is as one who either spares us all suffering or isn’t worth the time of day. I responded that eternal life, sharing in the very nature of God, was a pretty good reason for “all this God/Jesus stuff.” Rather than spare us all suffering, Christ enters into our suffering, and empowers us to unite our sufferings with His so that our own suffering can be efficacious for the salvation of the world.
Well, another person didn’t like that idea! He or she insisted that such a theology was “absurd,” and that Jesus would not want us sharing in His suffering. I pointed out that Jesus informed His disciples that He would have to suffer and die, and encouraged His disciples to “take up their cross” and follow Him.
All of this is indicative of our culture’s attitude toward suffering. Many insist that suffering be prevented because all suffering is bad and only bad, and thus suffering is to be avoided and it is genuinely possible for people to avoid suffering. The idea, or even the expectation, that all suffering is to be avoided and can be avoided is a new development. In ages past, there was no expectation that all suffering could be avoided. In centuries where the Black Plague, constant warfare, and regular famine took the lives of so many at such young ages, the idea of avoiding suffering entirely would have been considered absurd. In point of fact, it would not have been considered at all. To be human is to suffer.
Doctors, nurses, and others in the medical profession are aware of this attitude, this expectation that suffering be avoided. People get downright angry if they are hurting and the medications you administer are inadequate to manage the pain entirely. People call the triage service after hours and demand that you diagnose their child over the phone, and that the medication required to fight the infection, or whatever it is, be prescribed now. I get it. We certainly don’t want children to suffer unnecessarily. But the expectation that a diagnosis can be made over the phone and that meds to make it all better be prescribed immediately is simply unrealistic. But there it is.
One of the heresies of Unitarian Universalism is the idea that it is possible for humans to build a better world here on Earth using only human ingenuity and will. God is not needed for this project.
