Pope Leo Arrives in Uruguay to Open 12-Day South America Tour Weeks After Lung Cancer Surgery

Pope Leo XIV stepped off a nearly 14-hour flight from Rome on Friday and landed in Montevideo, the first stop on a 12-day tour of three South American countries. He is 71, and the trip comes only weeks after he had lung cancer surgery. On the papal plane, he told reporters he never had any doubt about going. From the first day, he said, he was convinced the journey had to go forward.

He wasted little time. Leo rode into Montevideo in an open-sided popemobile, and the Vatican estimated that 30,000 people turned out to watch him pass and to attend his first event. In Montevideo's main square he spoke about the role Uruguay can play in its neighborhood. At a time when differences easily become sources of conflict, he said, persevering in respect for the law, negotiation and the patient search for agreements is a service Uruguay can continue to offer its neighbors. President Yamandu Orsi, who leads a center-left alliance, was there as well. Leo's next planned stop is Casavalle, a Montevideo neighborhood known for high poverty and violence.

This is the first papal visit to Uruguay in almost four decades; John Paul II was the last pope to come, in 1988. The turnout was something of a surprise. Uruguay is the most secular country in Latin America, and Church membership there is declining. It was the first country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana, and it has since legalized abortion, same-sex marriage and assisted dying, all over the Church's opposition. Even so, tickets to Leo's prayer vigil at Centenario Stadium sold out in two days.

He will spend three days in Uruguay before moving on to Argentina on Sunday. Argentina was the home of his predecessor, Francis, who disappointed many compatriots by never returning there as pope. The Pew Research Center found that about 71% of Argentines identified as Catholic when Francis's papacy began; by 2024 the figure was 58%. Leo is scheduled to meet President Javier Milei, whose sweeping spending cuts have drawn criticism from the Church because they have hampered programs for the poor and needy. He also plans to meet business leaders, trade unions, workers and social representatives.

The last leg, beginning Wednesday, takes him to Peru, where he spent half his priestly life before being elected pope last year, and where he became a naturalized citizen in 2015. He lived and preached there for two decades. He plans to celebrate Mass in his old diocese of Chiclayo and in the mountain village of Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, then in the former Incan capital of Cusco. He will also travel to Pucallpa in the Peruvian Amazon to honor the country's indigenous population.

Anticipation is visible in Peru's streets, where vendors sell T-shirts and rosaries bearing his likeness and bakeries sell "Leo bread." The faithful there, too, are fewer than before: the Catholic share of the population has fallen from 76% in 2013-2014 to about 67% now.

The stakes reach beyond one itinerary. Latin America holds roughly 40% of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, yet fewer people across the continent identify as Catholic. Over the next 12 days, Leo's health, and the crowds that come out to see him, will both be tested, starting with Argentina this weekend.