Pope Leo’s Cancer Diagnosis

On October 19th, 2025, the Louvre became the backdrop of something straight out of a heist movie. In this series, I'll take you inside the events of that day through the eyes of the people who live them. Then, I'll join the International Hunt for the Louvre Jewels. Heist at the Louvre, a new series from ABC Audio. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast app, or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts to listen ad-free. It's Wednesday, October 14th, and he'll have plenty of people praying for him. You start here. Hope Leo the 14th is diagnosed with lung cancer. The Pope has had this area of his lung removed. This came just after hours, which seemed like a straightforward surgery. What is next for the leader of the Catholic Church? The Trump Administration asks Kimberly Gilfoyle to step down his ambassador. By the President decided his almost daughter-in-law had to go, and they'd already shut down one roller coaster, now they're closing several more. Every time I close my eyes, I just see that man in the air like when he locked guys with us. Another tragedy at Six Flags turns an entire theme park empire upside down. From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Brad Milky. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church is always going to be huge news, whoever he is. This is the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics around the world. He's the latest in a line that starts with Peter the Apostle, but this Pope in particular is extraordinarily important. When Cardinal Robert Prievo was elected, it became Leo the 14th. He also became the first American Pope in history. Through the Ministry of Peter, you have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with admission. He's rather progressive as popes go, pushing forward the legacy of Pontiffs like Francis before him. And by Vatican standards, he's also rather young, 71 years old, giving him theoretically plenty of time to shape the legacy of his church before he's done. That all assumes, though, that he stays healthy. Well, in recent days, Pope Leo was told he had a nodule or a lump in his lung. Yesterday, he went into surgery to have it removed. Obviously, you're going to want to test if this is just a benign cyst or something else, and we thought this might take a while to analyze. Well, in just hours, while people were still praying, the Vatican was able to come out and announce the Pope has lung cancer. Let's take you straight to Vatican City this morning. ABC's Foreign Correspondent Tom Sufi Birj is there. Can you just walk me through how this all played out? Sure, Brad. So early afternoon, local time, we saw the convoy taking the Pope, the short drive from the Vatican down to Rome's gemelli hospital where popes over the years have pretty much always been treated. We saw the Pope walk in. He looked relaxed. He was smiling. He shook the hands of many hospital staff and there were crowds, both outside the hospital and inside. He waved. He seemed to ease, just like he did when he made the announcement that he had this nodul on his lung back on Sunday. The operation is already planned for the next few days. I thank you for your spiritual closeness and I trust in your prayers. Wine the clock for a few hours. In the evening, we then got a very short statement from the Vatican, effectively saying that the procedure was successfully completed. The surgery to remove that nodul as scheduled and as planned it had gone ahead and that the Pope had returned to his hospital room. He's the head of the Vatican city. So I pray that he get recovered soon. And then later though, we got a much more detailed statement from the Vatican, a much more significant statement which revealed the diagnosis of lung cancer. It also said that part of Pope Leo's right lung had been removed during that surgery. It said that the surgery had gone to plan. I think that's important to underline and there were no complications. After the surgery, the Pope had undergone a short period of observation and then returned to his hospital room on the 10th floor of the hospital. Okay, so then he obviously he's awake. He's cognizant all of that. But bottom line, do we have a sense of how serious this is? Well, I think that there are a few things to bear in mind here. Firstly, on Sunday, when the Pope announced that he had this abnormality, this growth on his lung, he said that it was discovered at an early stage, at an early phase. So that I think is one cause for optimism here. And we know that the cancer that he has, it is Adonokasinoma, it is the most common form of non-small cell lung cancer. So, you know, the Pope has had this area of his lung removed. The hope now will be that the cancerous tissue has been removed. But of course, it's just too early for us to make any, you know, say anything really, make any assumptions about that. We are confident about the results of the operation given the preparation and competence of the doctors of Gemelli Hospital. What the Vatican is saying that there'll be further tests carried out. The results of some of those tests could take days to come out. And of course, for now, we know that the Pope is in the hospital. He's expected to be kept in the hospital to recover from the surgery for about a week. And we've got one nice little detail from the Vatican saying that when he got back to his hospital room, he asked to have dinner. Oh, okay, so an appetite, at least. What's the reaction there in Vatican City and around the world from sort of the broader Catholic population? Yeah, as we were breaking this news on the air, of course, people were stopping and some people had heard that the Pope had been diagnosed with cancer. So, you know, there was, there's definitely a degree of shock. Sometimes God, you know, gave us, you know, all these kind of prayers, life, you know. Anyone we know who's being diagnosed with cancer, there is that initial shock. And obviously, what's different about the Pope, it's not just shock of the people around him. We're talking about 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide. And really, many, many people beyond the Catholic faithful will be digesting this news, thinking about the Pope, thinking about either their own experience of cancer or the experience that other people they know have had and wishing the Pope all the best. I know our hearts are with the Pope and Emily Dre, that his level of comfort could be the best in the situation that he is in. The hope is that this has been caught early, that the surgery, as the Vatican says, was successful and that that hopefully will lead to a positive prognosis, but we're just going to have to wait, I think, to hear more from Jamelie Hospital in Rome and from the Vatican itself. Yeah, it's interesting, very calm words from everyone around the Vatican, although it worth noting, like, the Pope actually elevated some cardinals in recent days and retrospect, I think there's a lot of Catholics being like, was he, you know, making plans responsibly for in case this did not go well, although, again, no, no imminent concerns for the Pope's life. But at the big moments here, again, for such a popular Pope, Tom Sufiburge, they're in Vatican City. Now, thank you. Thanks, Brad. Next up on Start here, at one point, she was invited into the Trump family. Now, she's been uninvited from the administration. We're back in a bit. This show is sponsored by NetSuite. There's no doubt about it anymore. 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Let's bring an abc senior political correspondent Rachel Scott. You could hear the drum beat. How did this play out? Yeah, Brad. Look, the door definitely opens for some, and it's definitely closing for others. It was quite a head-scratching day. Look, this is a stunning downfall of Kimberly Gilfoyle. She was once engaged to President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr. She is considered one of President Trump's most enthusiastic supporters. You remember that speech you delivered on the floor of the R&C convention. Leaders and fighters for freedom and liberty on the American dream. The best is yet to come. Look, she's been to Trump family events, so weddings, political events. She was there behind the scenes with the Trump family at the President's rally on January 6th. And so later, when the President, it's re-elected for a second term, she got rewarded with this plumb job, right? Ambassador to Greece. But suddenly, Gilfoyle faced a lot of pressure to resign after a slew of embarrassing corruption stories and allegations, including one allegation that she asked a Trump donor to pay her $100,000 AMX bill. Now I was told by sources the President was not happy with those allegations, Gilfoyle for days and over the weekend was working behind the scene sources told me, essentially trying to save her job, trying to persuade those in the administration to vouch for her directly to President Trump. But it became quickly clear that wasn't going to be enough, all of this is just building up for days. Well, the new White House press secretary comes before reporters at the podium and announces that the administration has officially asked Gilfoyle to resign. We have asked Ambassador Gilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well. And there was a little bit of this pause within the White House press briefing room because all of us were wondering, is she actually going to do it and what happens if she doesn't? You asked her to resign, is she going to say no or something? Yeah, it was like 20 or 30 minutes where we didn't actually know whether or not she was going to step down or if she was going to try and fight to save her job and the president would have to actually just fire her outright. But Gilfoyle later posted on social media that she denies these allegations against her calling them false, but ultimately that she's going to step away from this job. As that social media post came out, I was outside of the White House on the South Lawn waiting for the president to walk out as he was getting ready to depart for Alaska. And so when the president left the residence, I asked him directly about Gilfoyle. But the president also made it clear he did not like what he read and it was time for her to move on. Well, and so then, like you said, there's the new press secretary. What were your takeaways from her first appearance? Because it is a big deal for not just reporters, but for the American public. This is the mouthpiece for the administration. Yes, Brad. This is a critical job. The White House press secretary speaks on behalf of the president of the United States. They have the ability to deliver the president's message. What they say could shift markets, it could impact domestic and foreign policy as well. So all of us reporters were very eager for the first White House press briefing by this new White House press secretary, Katie Zachariah. I am so honored to work for President Trump and the American people as a new White House press secretary. Traditionally, press briefings last for quite a while. The press secretary takes dozens of questions. That did not happen this time around. He had a historic one day war and now we are have a booming economy and a great relationship with Venezuela. It was very short. She took three questions, that's it. All those three questions came from outlets that are pretty friendly to President Trump. In fact, even a photographer capturing the list of notes that she had there on the podium and she had laid out one, two, three exactly who she was calling on and even a subject next to one of their names. In fact, I am going to end it because President Trump is heading out to Marine 1 for our historic trip to Alaska and we can ask him all of the questions out there, so thank you so much. In fact, President Trump, when he left the White House, just about 45 minutes later, took more questions than his own press secretary took during the White House press briefing. But who is she, Rachel? Is she, you know, you guys work with a big calm shop? Is she somebody who like kind of rose through the ranks of all the deputy press secretaries and is now just installed? She's the next one out that to the previous one left? No, Brad. I mean, she's from the outside and so Caroline love it. She came up through the campaign. We were all familiar with her. She was giving statements while the president was running for reelection. Zachariah is a conservative commentator. She frequently appears on conservative outlets. She also had a brief stint at the Department of Homeland Security. And when the president announced that she was going to be his next press secretary, he noted that she was an attorney. So as the president left the White House, one reporter asked, "You said she's in the attorney, where did she pass the bar exam? Which state? What does she call up?" And the president himself did not know. So he turns to Zachariah and he asks her, "What state did you pass the bar exam in?" And that's when she says, "I moved to China." That raised a lot of eyebrows and certainly some questions and caused quite a bit of confusion among the press corps. So we went back and asked the White House where she passed the bar exam and the White House has not said. Really interesting first day. I mean, you hear about Republicans in Washington wondering if President Trump is watching what they're saying. You know, he's watching everything that she's saying in addition to that. You're one of the most visible people outside of President Trump and Vice President Bance in the entire administration. Immediately. Rachel Scott, they're in D.C. Thank you. Thanks, Brad. It was just a few weeks ago that three people filed lawsuits against Six Flags Magic Mountain in California alleging that the popular X2 roller coaster was fundamentally unsafe. I have suffered automatic brain injury and needed emergency brain surgery to stop the bleeding. The lawyers representing them suggested more than a hundred more such filings could still be on the way. They don't assume a risk of death or catastrophic brain damage for some family fun. Six Flags, for its part, insists all of its rides are safe, but in the face of these lawsuits, they did shut this one down permanently. Well, recently, there was another accident, a deadly one. This one was at a different ride, at a different Six Flags in a different state, but it is already resulting in new action by the theme park across the country. ABC's Faith Abu Bay is there in Nableton, the home of Six Flags over Georgia Faith? What do we know? Yeah, it's just such a tragic death and such a horrific way for this man to die. According to investigators, it was around 358, just before 4 o'clock in the afternoon Monday. When park goers, they were here having a lot of fun. Again, it was the day before fall break, so you can imagine there were a lot of families here. And people were on this giant ride called the Goliath, and out of nowhere, according to some of the witnesses, the restraint on this man became unlatched according to these witnesses. I looked over at her and I told her, I said, something's going on, I said, they keep it, keep clicking. Yeah, it kept clicking like it was unlocking and re-locking. He was ejected out of his seat. He turns sideways and he's flipping in the air. It comes down, he slams down on our cart and tumble all the way down, and in fact, according to investigators, his body hit multiple parts of the ride before he made it all the way to the ground. People reached out trying to grab him like everybody tried to save this man, and we couldn't let him look. He could not. There was too much force to grab him. According to investigators as well, as that was happening because he hit multiple parts of the ride, people were injured as well during this incident. Every time I close my eyes, I just see that man in the air, like, when he locked eyes with us. He identified him as a 42-year-old man, Hassan Karim, and we've learned that he did work in the local school district. He worked for charter school in the Atlanta area. And according to the school's page on him, he has a biopage on the website. They said that he was someone who enjoyed the job that he did. He enjoyed using technology as a tool to remove barriers and empower people. There have been no funeral plans announced here, and we haven't heard officially from the family. But we've seen several social media posts where people are just talking about how this was a man who was a family man. He loved life, and he loved his students, and he just was such a joy to be around, and it's just such a tragic end to his story. How was Six Flags dealing? with this because like when you hear that somebody's been ejected from a rollercoaster this very tall role. I mean, how does that happen and what are they doing about it? Yeah, there are a lot of questions that six flags and of course, investigators are working to answer right now. A spokesperson when we reached out said that the team on the ground here did respond pretty quickly to the incident. As emergency crews were also coming along to help evacuate people. But also they talk about how saddened they are that this happened at all. And they're sending their condolences to the victim's family and all loved ones. But you know, they're looking into this. The first thing they've done that we've noticed is the fact that they've shut down the Goliath ride. Not just here in Georgia. Yesterday happened to be a day that the park was closed anyway. But six flags is saying that they're shutting down the ride along with similar rides across the country at other parks. So it seems they're investigating to see if this was specific to this ride. If this was just a mistake that happened here on the ground or basically what happened just trying to get to the bottom of it. Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out faith is I mean, we just saw a lawsuit emanating from a different six flags in Southern California claiming that some of their biggest coasters are causing brain injuries. And six flags has denied that. But I mean, they have shut down rides at that park. And now you say they're shutting down rides at other parks. I mean, is there a concern that there is a wider issue here? Or do they just see this as tragedies with kind of coincidental timing? Well, there's no indication that this is a wider problem right now. But again, as I mentioned, six flags is shutting down rides that are similar to the Goliath across the country. This is a roller coaster that is considered a hyper coaster. It's about 200 feet tall and has maximum speeds about 70 miles per hour. So it's a very fast roller coaster. Here in Georgia, the law requires that there's at least once a year annual inspection. So sometimes there is more. And if the ride is being open to the public, it has to be inspected on the ground before it's open to the public as it's being operated. So that could be a daily thing. So we're trying to figure out what the maintenance records show. When was the last time it was maintained or whether it was inspected? And when did that happen? Did they find any problems? But at this point is just a lot of questions that have still not been answered yet. And of course, this is a time where people, you know, come around here to enjoy the park. Again, as I mentioned earlier, it's fall break. And a lot of people are considering whether it's safe to go on the roller coasters right now. At this point, we have no indication that it's not, but a lot of people are are taking a moment to think about that as this investigation continues. Right, and like you said, incredible speeds generated by coasters like this one, faith of Ube, they're in Georgia right now. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, one more quick break. When we come back, is your refrigerator running? Well, then you better go and catch the hacker inside of it. One last thing is next. Ground breaking trilogy. That family wasn't real. You sure about that? I had a father called Vision. Oh, is this possible? Don't miss the two episode premiere of Marble Television's Vision Quest. Nothing bonds a family together quite like mortal jeopardy. Now streaming. All not decent plus. What is fallen in my lap is huge. FX is the low down. I'm just kind of bloke things up. You're not Jason Bawke. Ethan Hawke and Tommy Lee Jones. The conspiracy theorist. Eyes again. The critically acclaimed series returns. Which way? Be normal now and again. Where is your punk rock spirit? FX is the low down. Now streaming on Hulu. And one last thing. Yesterday, Apple unveiled several new products, part of what tech people call smart home accessories. Everything from smart TVs that integrate with Siri to smart speakers that chime in with help while you're cooking. These types of devices have existed for a while, but Apple's clearly making a bet it's here to stay. We're also seeing the potential risks around electronics that are increasingly internet controlled. In fact, recently, hundreds of supermarkets in France were panicking over a hack that disrupted their food supplies. This is a really big kind of wake up call. That's the word that the French finance minister used to describe this cyber attack. This is ABC's Mike Debusky, who when he's not guest hosting start here covers tech, which meant he was paying attention when French officials said a string of refrigerators had been infiltrated and manipulated so that their temperatures went well over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. What happened here was that hackers got into the refrigeration systems of a bunch of older model smart refrigerators. Right? Refrigerators that are connected to the internet that can adjust their temperature. And what these hackers did was they basically overheated these refrigerators, causing a lot of this food to spoil. Now, this did not exactly mean French people were at risk of starving, but this was significant. The country's finance minister said an attack on grocery stores like this strikes at the very heart of the country's food supply and it comes as more and more of her everyday appliances are connected in some way to the internet. The smart home space does not have the greatest reputation when it comes to the cyber security of these things. In recent years, whenever I hear people expressing concern about cyber security for our smart home devices, I'm often like, all right, again, we relax like no one wants to hijack your blinds or your ceiling fans. But what if you're talking about your oven or the locks on your front door? Mike says that's one reason for security concerns. The other is that your average home appliance just lasts longer than your average computer does. Meaning, if you get a smart fridge, you're not going to stop using it just because the company is no longer updating its software, that's apparently what happened here. The Danish company behind the update says their newer models weren't affected, but they are now working with customers that were. This incident does not mean you'll rely less on your home network in the future though. If anything, the opposite's true. The next step here is something that we've talked about extensively in its AI, right? When Apple pulled the wraps off its new smart home technology on Tuesday, one of the big selling points for all this stuff was the new Siri AI feature. Mike says usually, when Apple is talking about AI, it's talking about your phone, figuring out what emails will matter most to you, and then proactively raising them to the top of the pile. The problem with this is that, as we've seen pretty extensively in the last several months and weeks, AI can go pretty wrong. And that's one thing if it's in your phone and it's sending off an erroneous text message or an email, it's quite a different thing if it's hooked up to, for example, your home thermostat as a lot of these things are and it turns off the heat in the middle of winter or your garage door. If it hallucinates and accidentally opens your door when you're not home, well, that's a real big concern. In fact, this week, the head of the AI firm Anthropic said, "We might just be months away from some models being able to copy versions of themselves onto the electronic devices in homes." Meaning, instead of running exclusively from data centers, tiny versions of these programs could be run on the tiny computers we're all running all the time. That would make them a lot tougher to shut down, unless I suppose you're okay just shutting off your fridge for a few days. By the way, Mike also points out these AI companies have a pretty spotty track record when it comes to predicting anything about their own products. So I guess even the Doomsday warning sounded a bit specious to tech experts. Hey, big news. Today is the last day of voting in the Signal Awards. These very prestigious podcast awards start here, it's nominated for a few different categories and you guys, we are clinging to a lead in the news and politics category for the best episode of the year. Like, you can tell the audiences for the other shows that figured out that they are behind. So please help us keep that spot. If you have not voted yet, today is the day we have a link in our show notes to guide you right where you need to be. I'm Brad Milky. I'll see you tomorrow. Last October's brazen daytime heist at the Louvre was shocking. Now, nearly a year out, there are still critical questions to be answered. Where did they go? And second, where did they come from? In this series, I'll take you inside the events of that day, like you've never heard them before, through the eyes of the people who lived them. On the pavements, I saw something shiny. You did see the crown. Yes, exactly. Heist at the Louvre, a new series from ABC Audio, available now, ad-free on Amazon Music. The 20th century studios presents Well Fall, the most incredible survival thriller of the year. Now playing in theaters to survive the unthinkable, do the impossible. You're going to become so dangerous that the predators can't help but let you go. Austin A. Problems. I'm going home. Josh Brooklyn. Survivor Survival. Well Fall. 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