Pope Leo to begin South America trip after medical clearance

Pope Leo XIV will begin an 11-day journey through Uruguay, Argentina and Peru on November 6, after medical checks cleared him to travel following surgery to remove part of his right lung on October 13. The Nov. 6-17 itinerary includes public Masses, meetings with political leaders and pastoral visits, as well as planned encounters with people who experienced abuse by clergy and other Church members. The Holy See Press Office has not announced when or where those meetings will take place. The trip is Leo’s first to Latin America as pope. He is scheduled to spend November 6-8 in Uruguay, November 8-11 in Argentina and November 11-17 in Peru, where he served as a missionary and bishop and became a citizen. The itinerary covers 10 cities, including Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Lima and Cusco. In Uruguay, Leo is scheduled to celebrate Mass in Florida on November 8, the feast of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three, the country’s patroness. The shrine is associated with Uruguay’s independence movement. The visit comes in a country where 52% of people reported no religious affiliation in a 2024 Latinobarómetro survey of 18 Latin American nations, while 33% identified as Catholic. The broader...