Pope Leo kicks off South America tour

ROME

Pope Leo XIV departs from Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, near Rome, for Montevideo, Uruguay, at the start of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

Pope Leo has kicked off a three-nation tour of South America for an emotionally charged reunion with the continent that helped shape his priesthood, three weeks after undergoing lung cancer surgery.

The 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church will in 12 days visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in one of the most intense papal foreign trips in decades, meeting political leaders, prisoners, the poor, as well as old friends.

The Church’s first U.S.-born pope served for almost two decades in Peru as a missionary, forming a deep attachment to the continent. Leo said he was looking forward to returning to those countries “so dear to me.”

The head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics said he hoped the trip would “strengthen faith, renew hope, (and) rekindle the fire of charity” in the countries, which share challenges from rising inequality and violence, to demographic falls and the decline of Catholicism.

Despite undergoing an operation on Oct. 13 to remove a cancerous tumour, doctors have given him the all-clear to travel, and the Vatican said no special medical measures were necessary beyond the standard care on papal trips.

Leo begins his trip in Uruguay, Latin America’s most secular country, while he will meet left-wing President Yamandu Orsi.

The pope will travel on Nov. 8 to Argentina, the homeland of his predecessor Pope Francis, who disappointed many Argentinians by not returning to visit during his papacy.

The South America trip culminates in Peru on Nov. 11. The country has been gripped by pope fever. In Lima, vendors are selling T-shirts and rosaries with his image on them, while Leo bread is on sale in bakeries.