The pope, Oct. 17 -- Varvara is 13, her scans came back clear days ago, and on Saturday she walked up to Pope Leo XIV's car outside Gemelli Hospital with a felt doll and a framed photograph of the hug she says got her through cancer. She told him their embrace in St. Peter's Square last December had given her "the strength to overcome the illness that, fortunately, I have now beaten," Vatican News reported.

Pope Leo has lung cancer.

The Holy See Press Office released a statement from his doctors, Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora, saying blood tests and a chest X-ray on Saturday morning allowed him to leave. In NBC's account they said "the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge from the hospital." The fuller account came from...