Vatican denies Pope has benign brain cancer

The Vatican denied a report in an Italian newspaper that Pope Francis has a benign brain tumor.

The Vatican spokesman, the Federico Lombardi, said the report in Quotidiano Nazionale was "totally unfounded," as well as "seriously irresponsible and not worthy of attention."

"Also, as all can see, the Pope continues to exercise his intense activity without interruption and in an absolutely normal way." Lombardi's statement added.

A smiling Francis later held his weekly general audience before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square and was due to return to a three-week gathering of Roman Catholic bishops from around the world, which he has been attending daily.

The newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale, a national paper based in central Italy, reported on its front page on Wednesday that a Japanese doctor and his team had secretly flown from Tuscany to the Vatican on a helicopter bearing the Vatican's white-and-yellow flag to examine the pope "some months ago".

The article, under the headline "The Pope is Sick," said the Argentine pontiff was diagnosed with "a small dark spot on the brain", but that it was curable without surgery.

Andrea Cangini, the newspaper's editor, said it expected Lombardi's denial but stood by its story.