Pope Leo’s South American Homecoming

Pope Leo XIV is embarking on a 12-day visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, only three weeks after surgery to remove a cancerous growth and the lower lobe of his right lung. The Vatican says no special health measures are needed, and describes the operation as a past episode rather than a permanent medical condition. Leo has returned to public duties and, according to Vatican officials, personally confirmed the demanding itinerary without changes. The journey involves extensive travel across thousands of miles, from the Amazon to the Andes. Uruguay, where Catholic numbers have declined, is receiving its first papal visit in 40 years. In Argentina, the visit is expected to honour Pope Francis, Leo’s predecessor, who never visited his homeland as pope. The trip also has political sensitivities: Francis clashed with President Javier Milei over social justice, while Argentina’s bishops have criticised Milei’s austerity policies and cuts to social spending. Milei has nevertheless welcomed Leo, and large crowds are expected. The visit’s most personal leg is Peru, where Leo—born Robert Prevost in the United States—spent almost 20 years and holds citizenship. His time there is regarded as important in shaping his papacy. He will return to Chiclayo, where he served as bishop, and travel to Cusco and the Amazonian city of Pucallpa. In all three countries, he is scheduled to meet survivors of clerical sexual abuse, an issue that overshadowed Pope Francis’s 2018 visit to Chile and Peru. Commentators see the trip as an opportunity for Leo to renew the papacy’s ties with Latin America after Francis and to address challenges facing democracy in the region. The article also raises the possibility of a future visit to the United States, noting that Leo wants to go but that the timing could be affected by Donald Trump’s presidency.

Pope Leo XIV has begun a nearly two-week tour of South America, departing Rome on Friday for a 13-and-a-half-hour flight to Uruguay. The 71-year-old US-born pontiff is recovering from lung cancer surgery performed three weeks earlier. His itinerary includes three days in Uruguay, followed by Argentina and Peru. The tour comes as Catholic affiliation has declined across the region, which is home to about 40% of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Uruguay, the first stop, is Latin America’s most secular country. It has legalized recreational marijuana, abortion, same-sex marriage and assisted dying, policies opposed by the Catholic Church. Despite that context, tickets for Leo’s prayer vigil at Montevideo’s Centenario Stadium sold out in two days. He is due to meet center-left President Yamandu Orsi and visit Casavalle, a neighborhood known for poverty and violence. The visit is Uruguay’s first papal visit since 1988, and Leo is expected to seek renewed engagement with a population in which relatively few believers attend Mass. In Argentina, Leo will meet President Javier Milei, whose cuts to programs for poor and needy people have drawn criticism from the Church. The pope is also scheduled to meet business leaders, trade unions, workers and social representatives. Argentina is the home country of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who never returned there as pope. The share of Argentinians identifying as Catholic fell from 71% at the start of Francis’s papacy to 58% in 2024. The final leg is Peru, where Leo lived and preached for two decades. Plans include Masses in his former diocese of Chiclayo, the mountain village of Santa Cruz de Succhabamba and Cusco, as well as a visit to Pucallpa in the Peruvian Amazon to honor Indigenous people. Public excitement is reflected in the sale of pope-themed merchandise and “Leo bread.” Catholic affiliation in Peru has also declined, from 76% in 2013–14 to about 67% now.

Pope Leo XIV is beginning a three-country Latin America tour with a visit to Uruguay, three weeks after lung cancer surgery raised questions about whether he could make the trip. The 71-year-old pope is scheduled to travel from Uruguay to Argentina and then Peru, where he spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop. Vatican communications chief Maria Montserrat Alvar says Leo has completed the doctors’ required convalescence period, is recovering well, and will have medical care available during the journey. The itinerary includes a visit to a neighborhood affected by gang violence, Masses in Paysandú and Florida, and meetings with Uruguay’s president and government officials. Uruguay is the tour’s first stop and a significant challenge for the Catholic Church: it is widely regarded as Latin America’s most secular country, with low regular Mass attendance and a long-standing separation of church and state. The country has also adopted policies opposed by the Church, including legal access to abortion, same-sex marriage, recreational marijuana, and assisted dying. Leo is expected to make the case for Catholic teaching on human dignity and the value of life, while recalling the country’s Catholic heritage. Church officials say the visit has generated considerable interest, including rapid demand for tickets to a prayer vigil in Montevideo. Guzmán Carriquiry argues that Leo’s presence may prompt Uruguayans to reconsider questions of meaning and faith, and expects the pope to highlight the Catholic symbolism associated with the Virgin of the Thirty-three and Uruguay’s independence movement. However, Catholic studies scholar Andrew Chesnut cautions that a warm reception may not lead to more people attending church, and doubts that the visit will reverse Uruguay’s long-running secularization.

Pope Leo is beginning a 12-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, his first major return to South America since becoming pope and a homecoming to the region where he spent decades as a missionary. The 71-year-old, born in Chicago and later a Peruvian citizen, is scheduled to travel about 31,000 km, visit 10 cities and deliver 36 speeches before the trip ends on November 17. The tour is expected to draw large crowds, including an estimated seven million people at events in Argentina. The trip comes about a month after Leo underwent surgery for localized lung adenocarcinoma. The Vatican says he has recovered fully and needs no special precautions or further treatment. Medical experts cited by Reuters said clearance to fly suggests a low risk of complications, though the demanding schedule and high-altitude visits in the Peruvian Andes could require rest breaks and possibly supplemental oxygen. Leo is expected to address governments in all three countries and speak about issues including environmental destruction, arms trafficking and regional political instability. His itinerary includes outdoor Masses, a visit to an Argentine prison and travel by helicopter to remote Andean communities. He will also meet survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, although the Vatican has not provided details. In Argentina, he is due to address President Javier Milei, who is described as a close ally of US President Donald Trump; Trump criticized Leo earlier in the year after the pope spoke against the Iran war. The tour comes as Catholicism faces declining influence in Latin America, where evangelical denominations are growing and the Church is challenged by changing social attitudes and more individualized worship. Local Catholic leaders hope the visit will renew faith and help restore the Church’s reputation, which has been damaged by abuse scandals. The article also notes that Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, visited Peru in 2018 but never returned to Argentina, and that no pope had visited Argentina or Uruguay since the late 1980s.