Pope Leo XIV Latin America tour, Digi Mart USA News (Montevideo, Uruguay): Pope Leo XIV has arrived in Uruguay to begin a 12-day tour of South America, three weeks after undergoing lung cancer surgery that had put the entire trip into question. The 71-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church landed in Montevideo on Friday after a 13-hour flight from Rome.
Speaking to reporters on board the papal plane, Leo said he feels “fairly good.” “I know some people were doubtful about this trip taking place,” he said. “I had no doubt and was convinced that this trip had to go forward.”
He thanked medical staff for their care, saying he is “here today, I think in fairly good shape.” The pope is scheduled to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru during one of the most intense papal foreign trips in decades.
His packed three-day itinerary in Uruguay, the region’s least Catholic and most secular country, will include a visit to a neighborhood affected by heavy gang violence. It also includes a mass in Paysandu, about 375 kilometers (230 miles) from Montevideo, and another mass in the city of Florida, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital.
Cardinal Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo, told the AFP news agency there is “widespread interest in the pope’s visit that goes well beyond the confines of the Catholic Church.” Tickets for the masses in Paysandu and Florida have quickly run out.
The trip is something of a homecoming for Leo, who will finish in Peru in three weeks. He served there for almost two decades as a missionary and formed a deep attachment to the continent.
The itinerary includes the former Inca capital of Cusco and the Amazon rainforest, and he will revisit his old diocese of Chiclayo for a private visit to a chapel he helped rebuild.
Leo said on Wednesday he was looking forward to returning to a region “so dear to me.” He said he hoped the trip would “strengthen faith, renew hope, and rekindle the fire of charity” in countries facing rising inequality and violence, as well as a decline in Catholic followers.
Doctors removed a cancerous tumor in an operation on October 13 and have cleared him to travel. The Vatican said no special medical measures were necessary beyond standard care on papal trips.
Maria Montserrat Alvarado, the Vatican’s new communications chief, praised his stamina, saying, “His stamina is fantastic.” She noted that Leo had completed the 14-day convalescence period required by doctors and was eager to get on the road.
