NYC Cardinal Had Brain Tumor

Doctors have removed a small tumor from the brain of Cardinal John J. O'Connor, his spokesman said Saturday.

The tumor was diagnosed while the 79-year-old cardinal was hospitalized at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He left the hospital on Saturday.

O'Connor will get radiation therapy "shortly and continue over the next several weeks," according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of New York.

He had been hospitalized for tests since August 25.

Doctors removed the "small" tumor from the surface of O'Connor's brain, and doctors found "no other areas of the body were affected," the statement said. The Archdiocese would not say whether the tumor was malignant and didn't release any more medical information.

The cardinal, who became spiritual leader to 2.2 million New York-area Catholics in March 1984, was brought to the hospital complaining of nausea and weakness.

O'Connor walked out of Sloan-Kettering Hospital on Saturday morning to his car, and said Mass in his private residence adjoining St. Patrick's Cathedral, said his spokesman Joseph Zwilling.

In his high-profile position in New York, O'Connor has become one of the city's more prominent citizens - co-authoring a book with ex-mayor Edward I. Koch, greeting the city's elite on the steps of the cathedral each St. Patrick's Day.