The key facts

  • Pope Leo XIV will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to 17, less than three weeks after surgery to remove a cancerous lung tumor
  • More than 50 events are planned, including meetings with presidents Javier Milei and Keiko Fujimori
  • The visit to Cusco at an altitude of 3,400 meters will last less than three hours and will be closely monitored amid questions about the pontiff's health

A tour three weeks after surgery

Pope Leo XIV is preparing for one of the most ambitious foreign visits by a pontiff in recent decades — an 11-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to 17. AFP reports this. The 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church underwent surgery to remove a cancerous lung tumor less than three weeks before the trip, but according to the agency, doctors said no additional treatment is required and cleared him to travel. The program includes 12 flights, two helicopter rides and a prayer at high altitude in the Andes. The Pope himself said he 'looks forward to returning to the continent where I lived so many moments of my life.'

More than 50 events and meetings with leaders

Although the Vatican acknowledges that the pontiff is still recovering, he will hold more than 50 events: from open-air Masses to meetings with the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, victims of sexual abusers within the clergy, as well as the elderly, the poor and people with disabilities. Millions of faithful are expected to come to see the Pope. Christopher White of Georgetown University, author of a book about Leo XIV, called it 'the most closely watched journey of Leo's pontificate to date' and noted that the trip would have been 'a feat' even without the surgery, and now it will be scrutinized even more closely.

Uruguay and Argentina: a secular state and Milei

The route will begin in Uruguay — the most secular country in Latin America, where the Pope will be welcomed by the left-wing president Yamandú Orsi. The country diverges from the church on issues of same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia, legalized last year, and Leo will face an address in defense of life. The pontiff will then arrive in Argentina — the homeland of his predecessor Francis, who, to the disappointment of many Argentines, never visited it during his pontificate. Officials expect seven million pilgrims. In Buenos Aires, Leo will meet with the right-wing libertarian, President Javier Milei — an ally of Donald Trump whose relations with the church are strained. According to AFP, Milei's exchanges with Leo are calmer than with Francis, but local church leaders openly speak of the high human cost of the president's efforts to fix the economy, which has left millions of vulnerable citizens below the poverty line.

An emotional return to Peru

The culmination of the trip will be the return to Peru, where Robert Francis Prevost, who became the first pontiff born in the United States, served for almost two decades, including as bishop of the coastal city of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023; he also holds Peruvian citizenship. The Pope's biographer Elisabetta Piqué — actually Elise Ann Allen — noted that returning to Peru 'means a great deal to him personally' and that he was 'very keen to go.' The program includes a Mass on a desert plain by the Pacific Ocean, visits to Cusco — the former capital of the Incas — and Pucallpa in the Amazon jungle. In Lima, the Pope will meet with the right-wing president Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the late Alberto Fujimori, who served prison time for corruption and crimes against humanity and on whose legacy she relies. Leo is expected to address the country's problems: a wave of crime involving contract killings and extortion, the cocaine industry — one of the largest in the world — and its impact on indigenous peoples, as well as political instability: Fujimori is the country's ninth leader in a decade. The protection of migrants' dignity may also come up: about 1.6 million Venezuelans live in Peru.

Health under special scrutiny

The visit to Cusco at an altitude of 3,400 meters will be short — less than three hours — but it will be closely watched amid the question of whether the pontiff underestimated his illness or overcame it with apparent ease. In Christopher White's view, if the Pope sustains the program, it will only reinforce the image of a young, strong and energetic pontiff that has taken shape since his election.