With health concerns cited as the reason behind Pope Benedict XVI resignation, many are questioning the selection of Pope Francis, who only has one lung…

It is being widely reported that Pope Francis, born in Argentina in 1936, had a lung removed when he was a teenager. What this means for the health of the new pontiff isn’t clear. At the time Jorge Bergoglio was a teenager, most lung surgery was done for infections, especially tuberculosis (TB) and empyema, a condition related to pneumonia where pus accumulates between the lung and the chest wall. At the time, surgical removal was the only option for curing TB. These surgeries were unpleasant and depending on the circumstances had very high complication and mortality rates.

Everything surrounding the Pope’s surgery is speculation of course. The only information circulating is “lung removed, teenager, infection.” Either way the surgery was likely complicated and unpleasant. The effects of such an operation depend very much on how much
lung was removed. Clearly it hasn’t impaired him too much yet, given that he’s made it into his eighth decade in apparent reasonably good health.

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