Pope Leo XIV left Rome on Friday for Uruguay, making the first papal visit to the country since John Paul II came in 1988. The stop opens a South American tour that runs through Nov. 17 and begins just weeks after he had a cancerous tumor removed from his lung.
The Vatican said the pope departed at 7:05 a.m. Rome time and was due at Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo at 4:30 p.m. local time. He is set to spend three days in Uruguay before moving on to Argentina and Peru.
Surgeons took out the lower lobe of his right lung on Oct. 13, and the operation confirmed lung adenocarcinoma. On Oct. 26, the Holy See said follow-up tests found the disease localized, that no more cancer treatment was required and that his doctors saw no medical reason to change the travel plans.
The journey is the longest and most distant of his papacy. Leo, the first pope born in the United States, spent two decades in Peru as a missionary priest and later a bishop.
His program in the capital opens with a welcome ceremony at Plaza Independencia, home to a monument to independence hero José Gervasio Artigas. Uruguay's Foreign Ministry schedule also has him speaking to officials, diplomats and civil society figures and holding a private meeting with President Yamandú Orsi.
On Saturday, the Vatican's program sends him to Paysandú for Mass. The city sits about 375 kilometers, or 230 miles, from Montevideo and was picked because people north of the Río Negro can reach it easily and it lies near the Argentine city of Colón.
He then returns to Montevideo for a gathering in Casavalle, a poor district on the city's edge troubled by drug trafficking and gang violence. The church there partners with national and municipal authorities on housing construction and addiction recovery.
The same day also includes a meeting at the Catholic University of Uruguay and an evening of prayer at Centenario Stadium.
A pope in a secular republic
His final day in the country, Nov. 8, coincides with the feast of the Virgin of the Thirty-three, Uruguay's patron. Tradition holds that 33 independence patriots carried the small wooden statue when they declared independence from the Brazilian empire in the city of Florida on Aug. 25, 1825.
Leo arrives in one of the region's most secular nations. Uruguay's constitution guarantees freedom of worship and declares that the state backs no religion, and Christmas is officially called Family Day while Holy Week is Tourism Week.
Vatican figures count nearly 77% of the country's 3.5 million people as baptized Catholics, yet more than half of Uruguayans say they have no religious affiliation, the largest share in Latin America. An August poll by Equipos Consultores found 36% of adults called themselves Catholic, a figure the pollster said appears to have leveled off after a long slide.
Latin America holds roughly 40% of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, though the faith's share of the population has been falling, most noticeably in the three countries on Leo's route.
Argentina and Peru next
The pope flies to Buenos Aires on Nov. 8 and stays in Argentina through Nov. 11, with stops in Luján and Córdoba. In the capital he will meet President Javier Milei, whose deep spending cuts have strained relations with Argentine church leaders.
Peru follows from Nov. 11 to 16, with visits to Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa. He is scheduled to leave Lima on Nov. 16 and arrive back in Rome the next day.
