Pope Leo XIV begins 12-day Latin America tour three weeks after lung cancer surgery

A trip that was in question

Pope Leo XIV has arrived in Uruguay — the first stop of a 12-day tour of Latin America, undertaken just three weeks after surgery to remove a lung tumour. These are his first comments on his health since the operation: speaking to journalists aboard the plane to Montevideo, the 71-year-old pontiff said he was BBC News.

What is known about the illness and the surgery

The surgery to remove the tumour, performed last month, was successful, and according to the Pope's doctors the cancer has not spread. The diagnosis was made on 14 October, when the Vatican announced the successful operation; at the time, as the BBC noted, news of the pontiff's illness left Catholics uncertain about what would come next. Leo XIV himself thanked the

The itinerary: Uruguay, Argentina and a

The tour spans more than 20,000 miles and is the pontiff's sixth international trip. On Friday in Montevideo, his popemobile drove along the waterfront past a crowd shouting his name. In the first speech of the trip, at Plaza Independencia, the Pope said universal healthcare must be the homeland of his predecessor Pope Francis, who never returned there during his own pontificate. The route concludes, by the Vatican's design, with a, where the future Pope served for many years as a missionary and later as a bishop. The pontiff himself said the aim of the visit is to be close to people who are looking from the Church for a message of

Image source, AFP via Getty Images