The story is splashed across the front page of Italy's Quotidiano Nazionale: "Pope Francis is sick" the paper says. The report claims the 78-year-old pontiff has a benign brain tumor... that a Japanese medical team secretly visited the Pope some months ago and spotted the tumor, saying it was treatable without surgery. But according to Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi the story is not only untrue, it's reprehensible. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) FATHER FEDERICO LOMBARDI SAYING: "No Japanese doctor has been to the Vatican to visit the pope. There have been no examinations such as those written about in the article. The offices responsible, have confirmed to me, there were no helicopter flights into the Vatican from outside, even in the month of January. Unless they were ghosts, they weren't seen." Lombardi says that while the Pope has some leg pain because of sciatica (SI-ATICA), he's in good health. The Japanese doctor cited in the report is reportedly based in the U.S. but has not commented on the story. Lombardi however, is outspoken. He says such misinformation about the Pope has to stop.