{"id":3909,"date":"2026-11-06T10:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T05:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3909"},"modified":"2026-11-06T10:03:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T05:03:56","slug":"pope-leo-starts-south-america-homecoming-tour-a-month-after-lung-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3909","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo starts South America ‘homecoming’ tour a month after lung surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pope Leo<\/strong><\/a> leaves on Friday \u200bfor an ambitious 12-day trip across South America expected to attract millions-strong crowds, as the first US-born pope returns to a Catholic stronghold<\/a> where \u200che lived for decades as a missionary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leo, who is 71 and underwent lung cancer surgery last month<\/a>, will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru through November 17 on one of the most demanding overseas tours undertaken by a Catholic leader in decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Vatican said this week that the pope had completely healed from his operation and no special precautions<\/a> were being taken for the tour, on which Leo will \u200btravel some 31,000 km across 10 cities and give 36 speeches.<\/p>\n

The pope, who was born in Chicago but spent decades in Peru<\/a> and became a \u200bPeruvian citizen, considers the tour a \u201chomecoming to places where he spent a long time and to which he feels closely connected,\u201d \u2060said Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni.<\/p>\n

Leo told pilgrims at his weekly audience in St. Peter\u2019s Square on Wednesday that during the trip he was hoping to \u201cstrengthen the faith, \u200brenew hope, and rekindle the fire of charity\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Pope expected to address regional instability<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The pope, departing Rome early on Friday morning, is due to arrive in Uruguay at 4:30pm.<\/p>\n

He will stay in the country until Sunday, visiting three cities before continuing for three days in Argentina and six days in Peru.<\/p>\n

Leo, who has forcefully decried the direction of global leadership in recent months<\/a>, will address the governments in each country in closely watched speeches. He will also lead outdoor Masses at major local sites, visit a prison in Argentina and head \u200bto remote Andean communities in Peru by helicopter.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Leo will give an address to Argentine President Javier Milei, a right-wing libertarian seen as a close ally \u200bto US President Donald Trump<\/a>, who lambasted Leo earlier this year after the pope criticised the Iran war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bruni said the pope\u2019s speeches during the tour would address a range of issues facing the \u200ccontinent, including \u2060environmental destruction, arms trafficking and regional political instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pope brings a message of communion and unity, an invitation to recognise one another \u2026 as members of one same family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The late Pope Francis, who was Leo\u2019s predecessor and from Argentina, visited Peru in 2018 but never returned home. A pope has not visited Argentina or Uruguay since the late 1980s.<\/p>\n

Argentine officials have said some 7 million people will attend events with Leo.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Vatican not taking additional precautions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Latin America has long been the world\u2019s largest Catholic \u200bregion in absolute numbers, but the Church \u200bhas been losing ground<\/a> recently to fast-growing \u2060evangelical denominations and has struggled to respond to progressive social attitudes and individualised forms of worship.<\/p>\n

Local Catholic leaders hope Leo\u2019s visit can reenergize the faith across the region and also help repair the Church\u2019s standing after abuse scandals have tarnished its reputation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo leaves on Friday \u200bfor an ambitious 12-day trip across South America expected to attract millions-strong crowds, as the first US-born pope returns to a Catholic stronghold where \u200che lived for decades as a missionary. Leo, who is 71 and underwent lung cancer surgery last month, will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru through November 17 on one of the most demanding overseas tours undertaken by a Catholic leader in decades. The Vatican said this week that the pope had completely healed from his operation and no special precautions were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}