Vatican Denies Pope Has Brain Tumor

The Vatican is forcefully denying a report in an Italian newspaper on Wednesday that Pope Francis is ill with a brain tumor, reports CNN.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said Wednesday that he had personally spoken to the Pope who "is in good health."

Lombardi called the Italian article "inexcusable and unconscionable."

In a front page story published on Wednesday, the Italian daily Quotidiano Nazionale claimed that a Japanese neurosurgeon had flown by helicopter "some months ago" from a private clinic in Pisa to the Vatican to examine the Pope and determined that he had a "small brain tumor, which can be cured without surgery."

The article identifies the surgeon as Dr. Takanori Fukushima, a neurosurgeon at Duke University who is also a consultant at San Rossore di Barbaricina clinic near Pisa, Italy.