Pope Leo Departs Rome for 12-Day South America Tour Weeks After Lung Surgery

Pope Leo XIV left Rome on Friday morning at the start of a 12-day trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, the longest international journey of his pontificate and his first visit to Latin America since his election. The Vatican press office said he departed Fiumicino airport at 7:05 a.m. local time aboard an ITA Airways flight for Montevideo. He was due to land at Carrasco International Airport at 4:30 p.m. local time, with a welcome ceremony in Independence Square set for the evening.

The trip runs from November 6 to November 17 and is his sixth apostolic journey. Reuters reported that Leo will travel about 31,000 kilometres, visit 10 cities and give 36 speeches, with 14 flights in the schedule. The Vatican said this week that the pope has healed completely from his operation and that no special precautions are being taken for the tour, Reuters reported.

A trip his doctors cleared

Leo, 71, had surgery on October 13 to remove the lower lobe of his right lung after a small growth was confirmed as lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. CNN reported that his surgeon, Dr Stefano Margaritora, said there were no clinical reasons to stop the trip, and that the pope needs no further treatment. A medical team travels with him, as on other papal trips. Vatican communications head Montse Alvarado told reporters this week that the pope's stamina is fantastic and that he personally confirmed the trip with no changes, CNN reported.

The hardest stop for a patient missing part of a lung may be Cusco, Peru, more than 11,000 feet above sea level, where CNN noted the air holds 35 percent less oxygen with each breath.

Uruguay first, then Argentina

Leo stays in Uruguay until Sunday, visiting Montevideo, Paysandu and Florida, home to the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three. It is the first papal visit to Uruguay since John Paul II came in 1988, and Uruguay is the most secular country in Latin America, with Christians making up 44 percent of the population.

In Argentina, from November 8 to November 11, he will visit Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Lujan. Reuters reported he will address President Javier Milei during the visit. His schedule includes a federal prison in Buenos Aires and a care centre in Claypole for people with intellectual and physical disabilities, a centre hit by Milei's spending cuts, CNN reported. Pope Francis, the first Argentine pope, never visited his home country while he was pope.

Peru is the homecoming

The final and longest leg, from November 11 to November 17, is Peru, where Leo first arrived as an Augustinian missionary priest in 1985 and later served as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. He remains a Peruvian citizen. He will visit Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa, closing with a Mass at Las Palmas Air Base in Lima, where about 1.2 million people are expected, CNN reported. Across the whole journey he will celebrate nine public Masses, visit seven cathedrals and lead two stadium prayer vigils, OSV News reported. The Vatican says he will also meet survivors of clerical abuse during the trip, with meetings planned in Argentina and in Peru.

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister, gave the simplest reason last month. "He's going on this trip very simply because he wants to go," Gallagher said, according to CNN.