Pope Leo XIV departed Rome on Friday morning for a 12-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, the longest and farthest journey of his pontificate — undertaken barely three weeks after surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his lung.
The 71-year-old pontiff boarded a chartered flight at Fiumicino airport at 7.05am local time, beginning an itinerary that will take him to 10 cities and some 50 events before he returns to Rome on 17 November. He is due to land in Montevideo, Uruguay, at 4.30pm local time, and will give 36 speeches along the way, covering about 31,000 kilometres on 14 flights, including two by helicopter.
The trip is the first visit to Latin America by the first US-born pope since his election, and it carries deep personal meaning. Leo, born Robert Prevost in Chicago, spent some two decades in Peru as an Augustinian missionary priest and later as bishop of Chiclayo, from 2015 to 2023, and holds Peruvian citizenship. The final and longest leg of the tour is a homecoming to Peru, where he will visit Lima, Chiclayo, the Andean city of Cusco and the Amazonian city of Pucallpa.
Leo underwent surgery on 13 October to remove the lower lobe of his right lung after a small growth discovered during routine checks was confirmed as lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. His doctors have said the disease was localised and that he requires no further treatment. The Vatican said this week that he had completely healed and that no special precautions were being taken for the tour, even for the visit to Cusco, which sits 3,400 metres above sea level.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told reporters the pope was “clinically fit to undertake this trip”, and the Vatican’s new communications chief, Maria Montserrat Alvarado, said his “stamina is fantastic”. Independent medical experts told Reuters that clearing the pope to fly suggested the risk of complications was low, though one pulmonologist noted the possible risks included a collapsed lung or blood clots, and that supplementary oxygen might be needed at high altitude.
No leg of the trip is more eagerly awaited than the return to Peru, where posters of the pope are already on sale outside churches in Lima and huge crowds are expected. But the opening stop also carries symbolism: Uruguay is the least Catholic and most secular country in Latin America, where Christmas is officially “Family Day” and Holy Week is “Tourism Week”. From there Leo will spend three days in Argentina — the home of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who never visited his native country as pontiff — and is due to address President Javier Milei on Sunday.
Sources: Reuters, “Pope Leo starts South America ‘homecoming’ tour a month after lung surgery” (https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pope-leo-starts-south-america-homecoming-tour-month-after-lung-surgery-2026-11-06/); Associated Press, “A still-recovering pope will head home to Latin America and his beloved Peru for a 12-day trip” (https://isp.netscape.com/news/world/story/0001/20261105/1ae340cbdea841c9b669a68534ec574c).
