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AP via PBS NewsHour
UPDATEVatican: Pope Leo needs no further cancer treatment after lung surgery
Final pathology shows a localized adenocarcinoma; the pontiff's Nov. 6-17 South America trip still looks on
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican said Wednesday that final tissue tests confirmed Pope Leo XIV's cancer was a localized pulmonary adenocarcinoma. A follow-up oncology review concluded he needs no further therapy. The 71-year-old had the lower lobe of his right lung removed on Oct. 13, in the first major health crisis of his 17-month pontificate. He left hospital on Oct. 17, earlier than the week-long stay first expected. His doctors say the nodule was found by chance during an unrelated exam. He greeted pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday. His next big engagement is a Nov. 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. His surgeon told Vatican News he sees no clinical reason to cancel it, though the Vatican has not formally confirmed the itinerary. An outside physician told CNN that patients usually get follow-up CT scans every three to six months for the first few years.
Why it mattersThe result removes the main uncertainty over the health of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church's leader and over his heavy travel schedule.
Supreme Court to hear Catholic preschools' case Nov. 3, testing a key religion precedent
A Colorado dispute could reshape how far free-exercise claims override anti-discrimination rules
WASHINGTON — On Nov. 3, which is also Election Day, the Supreme Court will hear St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy. Two Denver-area Catholic preschools and the archdiocese challenge a condition of Colorado's universal preschool funding. Participating schools must admit children regardless of family religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. The schools say church teaching requires them to consider the sexual orientation and gender identity of families in admissions. The 10th Circuit upheld the rule as neutral and generally applicable under Employment Division v. Smith. The justices took up two questions on how to prove a law is not generally applicable and how Carson v. Makin interacts with Smith. Constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky writes in SCOTUSblog that the case may bring the court closer to revisiting Smith, which it has not formally been asked to do. On Oct. 1 the court also agreed to hear a Kentucky zoning dispute over a Marian shrine under the federal land-use law RLUIPA.
Why it mattersThe rulings could set the national balance between religious exemptions and civil-rights protections in publicly funded programs.
Tunisian appeals court lengthens sentences over 2023 Djerba synagogue attack
Five defendants face harsher terms, including the gunman's fiancée, in the Ghriba shooting that killed five
TUNIS — A Tunis appeals court that handles terrorism cases has increased penalties for five people convicted over the May 2023 attack on the Ghriba synagogue on Djerba, according to Tunisian and regional outlets reporting this week. The attacker's fiancée and the man who arranged his housing each saw their terms rise from eight to ten years, plus fines of 50,000 dinars (about $16,600). A third defendant's sentence went from two to six years. A fourth, whose case the lower court had declined to hear, was convicted and given six years. A fifth, still at large, also received six years. The original verdicts came in February 2026. The attack hit the site during an annual Jewish pilgrimage and killed three security personnel and two visitors before security forces shot the gunman dead. The details come from local media accounts, and the court's own text was not available.
Why it mattersThe ruling shows Tunisia pursuing people who aided the attacker, three years after the deadliest assault on its small Jewish community in decades.
