Pope Leo XIV has begun his first trip to Latin America as pope, a 12-day tour of three countries that starts in Uruguay before moving on to Argentina and finally Peru.
The journey comes just three weeks after the 71-year-old pope underwent surgery for lung cancer on 13 October. The Vatican says he has passed the 14-day convalescence his doctors required and that his doctors are confident he can travel.
He faces a 13-and-a-half-hour flight from Rome and is due to arrive in Montevideo at 16:30 local time. The Uruguay leg lasts three days and includes a visit to a neighbourhood affected by gang violence, a Mass in Paysandú, about 375 km from Montevideo, and a Mass in the city of Florida, about 100 km away. He will meet President Yamandú Orsi and address government officials and diplomats. It is the first papal visit to Uruguay since 1988.
The trip then continues to Argentina and ends in Peru, where Leo served as a missionary priest and bishop for two decades. At about 31,000 km, according to Reuters, it is the longest and farthest trip of his pontificate.
Vatican communications chief Maria Montserrat Alvar said: “His stamina is fantastic. The way that he’s singing is incredible.”
Note: The image used with this article is an illustrative stock photograph of Montevideo and is not a photograph of the pope’s visit.
Source: Associated Press
