Pope Leo XIV left Rome on Friday for a 12-day tour of Latin America, beginning one of the most demanding papal trips in decades just three weeks after surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his lung.
Key Points
- The 71-year-old pope will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru through November 17, covering about 31,000 kilometres across 10 cities.
- The trip includes 14 flights, two helicopter rides, 36 speeches and around 50 events.
- Leo had surgery on October 13 to remove a third of his right lung; doctors say the cancer was localised and he needs no further treatment.
- The Vatican says the pope has fully healed and no special medical precautions are being taken, even for a visit to Cusco at 11,200 feet.
Leo departed from Rome’s Fiumicino airport early on Friday morning and is due to arrive in Uruguay at 4:30pm local time. He will stay in the country until Sunday, visiting three cities, before continuing for three days in Argentina and six days in Peru. Millions-strong crowds are expected along the way.
The trip carries more personal and historic weight than any of the pope’s voyages to date. Leo, the first pope born in the United States, is returning home to Peru, where the former Robert Prevost lived for two decades as a missionary priest and learned to be the pastor he is today. He headed the diocese of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, when Pope Francis summoned him to Rome.
A gruelling schedule, cleared by doctors
The Vatican said this week that the pope had completely healed from his operation and no special precautions were being taken for the tour. His surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, said afterward that there were “no clinical reasons why this visit should not take place,” and doctors have said he does not need further treatment.
The schedule will test that verdict. The pope will travel some 31,000 kilometres (19,300 miles) in 12 days, and will visit Cusco, Peru, which sits more than 11,000 feet above sea level, where there is 35% less oxygen per breath. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni stressed that the pope will travel with the standard medical care that accompanies every papal trip. “We’re not talking of a permanent condition,” he said. “We’re talking about something that you heal from, because it is surgery.”
The tour also takes Leo to Argentina, the home of his predecessor, Pope Francis, to whom Leo owes his pontificate — and begins in Uruguay, the least Catholic and most secular country in Latin America, where Christmas is officially “Family Day” and Holy Week is “Tourism Week.”
What happens next
No leg of the trip is more anticipated than the final stop in Peru, with Leo’s arrival in Lima and then Chiclayo, his beloved former diocese. He is also expected to address regional instability during the tour. For a pope who confirmed the trip personally, with no changes, after major surgery, the homecoming will be watched as closely for what it says about his health as for what he says to the crowds.
Sources: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pope-leo-starts-south-america-homecoming-tour-month-after-lung-surgery-2026-11-06/ ; Associated Press via La Nación — https://www.lanacion.com.ar/usa/a-still-recovering-pope-will-head-home-to-latin-america-and-his-beloved-peru-for-a-12-day-trip-nid05112026/