Skip to content

Culture & SocietyFeature

Pope Leo returns to St. Peter's Square in popemobile for first audience since surgery

By

Coverage spectrum

Covered by 3 outlets, mostly right-leaning (67%).

3 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

ABC News, Breitbart News and the New York Post, which carries a Reuters report, say Pope Leo XIV returned to St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, waving from an open-air popemobile at his first general audience since undergoing lung cancer surgery about a week earlier. Reuters reports that the 71-year-old pontiff pledged on Sunday to slowly resume his duties as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. The pope thanked the crowd for its support and prayers in his opening remarks, the outlets report.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. Pope Leo XIV returned to St. Peter's Square on Wednesday in an open-air popemobile for his first general audience since lung cancer surgery.

    Reported byLeft1Right1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    ABC News
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    Breitbart News

  2. The audience took place about one week after the pope's lung cancer surgery.

    Reported byLeft1Right1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    ABC News
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    Breitbart News

  3. The pope pledged on Sunday to slowly resume his duties as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

    One side only: the rightReported byRight1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    Breitbart News

  4. Leo had the lower lobe of his right lung removed on October 13 after a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma.

    One outletNew York Post· Right

How each side tells it

Compare views

All three outlets report Pope Leo XIV returned to St. Peter's Square in his popemobile for his first general audience since lung cancer surgery. ABC's headline leads with the video and first public appearance, while the right-side headlines stress the return, with Breitbart's playful.

  • the left

    1 outlet

    ABC News's headline leads with a video and the first public appearance since surgery, in a plain, news-style tone.

    WATCH: Pope Leo makes 1st public appearance since surgery
    ABC NewsLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    No coverage yet

    No center outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

  • the right

    2 outlets

    Right-side headlines foreground the pope's return and the popemobile, with Breitbart's Far Right headline using a playful, exclamatory tone while the New York Post's headline states the return plainly.

    Quick, to the Popemobile! Pope Leo Rides His Open-Air Transport for First Time Since Cancer Surgery
    Breitbart NewsFar RightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

Mantle found no loaded language in this coverage. Every headline and opening was checked against Mantle’s published word list, and Mantle’s AI read all 3 articles in context. Straight reporting often has none.

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

1 outlet

Leads with

  • the first public appearance
  • the video footage
  • the one-week gap after surgery
See the headline from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

0 outlets

No center outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

From the right

2 outlets

Leads with

  • the popemobile appearance
  • the pope's return to duties
  • the pope's recovery
See the 2 headlines from the rightHide the headlines
  • New York PostRightReuters report

    Pope Leo returns to St. Peter’s Square, hold first audience since cancer surgery

    Pope Leo returned to St. Peter's Square, waving to pilgrims from his open-air popemobile as he held his first general audience at the Vatican since undergoing lung cancer surgery.

    Read at New York Post (opens in a new tab)
  • Breitbart NewsFar Right

    Quick, to the Popemobile! Pope Leo Rides His Open-Air Transport for First Time Since Cancer Surgery

    Pope Leo XIV is back at work. A clearly delighted pontiff returned to St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, waving to Vatican pilgrims and blessing babies from his open-air popemobile as his first general audience began since undergoing lung cancer surgery just over one week ago.

    Read at Breitbart News (opens in a new tab)

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    3 hr 47 min later

    Its first report, Oct 21, 9:24 AM EDT

  • Center

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

  • Right

    First to report

    Breitbart News, Oct 21, 5:37 AM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. Breitbart NewsFar RightOct 21, 5:37 AM EDT
  2. ABC NewsLeftOct 21, 9:24 AM EDT
  3. New York PostRightOct 21, 9:57 AM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

Read next

Help someone else find the truth beneath the surface

Most people see one side of a story. Share this one, so they can see how every side is telling it and decide for themselves.

Email it

Seen a mistake? Tell us what is wrong with this page