U.S. Archbishop Foley has nonmalignant tumor, kidney removed

Published: 2006-02-06

ROME (CNS) -- U.S. Archbishop John P. Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, underwent surgery Feb. 3 to remove a nonmalignant tumor, but said that, "unfortunately, they also had to take out my kidney." The archbishop, who was to remain at Rome's Gemelli hospital at least until Feb. 8, told Catholic News Service Feb. 6 that although he felt "a little bleak" right after the surgery, he was improving quickly. The most surprising thing, he said, was how much attention the operation got on Catholic news sites and blogs, or Web logs. Archbishop Foley, 70, said a blood test he had in the United States showed something wrong, but it was only after further tests and a CT scan that the kidney tumor was diagnosed. A native of Philadelphia, he had been editor of the Catholic Standard & Times, the archdiocesan newspaper. Pope John Paul II named him an archbishop and president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications in 1984.

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