Pope Leo XI has landed in Uruguay, launching a demanding 12-day journey through South America that is expected to draw millions of people.
The first pope born in the United States is returning to a Catholic stronghold where he spent decades serving as a missionary.
The 71-year-old pontiff, who underwent surgery for lung cancer last month, will continue on to Argentina and Peru.
The tour ranks among the most challenging overseas visits undertaken by a pope in decades.
Over the course of the trip, Pope Leo will cover 31,000km, visit 10 cities and deliver 36 speeches.
Speaking to reporters aboard his flight from Rome, he said he felt “in fairly good shape” and had never doubted the journey would proceed. His recent time in hospital, he added, had strengthened his conviction that healthcare should be treated as a human right.
“I know some people were doubtful about this trip taking place,” the pope told journalists.
“I confess that, from the first day, I had no doubt and was convinced that this trip had to go forward.
“I’m very happy to say, praise the Lord, and thanks to wonderful medical assistance, I’m here today, I think in fairly good shape.”
Pope Leo speaks to journalists on his flight from Italy to Uruguay
Asked how he had managed to travel so soon after surgery, Pope Leo cited “faith in God, good doctors and a healthy life”.
His hospital stay, he said, had left him with “a sense of commitment of wanting to continue to be close to those who are sick but also to say … how healthcare should be a right of all people.”
The pontiff, an enthusiastic tennis player, said he had yet to return to the court, “but I will”.
Pope Leo was born in Chicago but spent decades in Peru, where he later became a Peruvian citizen.
He views the journey as a “homecoming to places where he spent a long time and to which he feels closely connected,” Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said.
The pope said he was eager to return to countries that were “so dear to me”.
During his weekly audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday, he told pilgrims that he hoped the visit would “strengthen the faith, renew hope, (and) rekindle the fire of charity”.
A sculpture of Pope Leo in the Peruvian city of Callao
The pontiff will remain in Uruguay – Latin America’s most security country and one of its wealthiest – until Sunday, with stops planned in three cities.
Authorities have mounted a major security operation, deploying 5,000 police officers and 1,000 soldiers.
In the capital, Montevideo, Pope Leo will ride along the waterfront promenade in a custom-built popemobile. He is also due to meet left-wing President Yamandu Orsi and receive the keys to the city.
After Uruguay, he will spend three days in Argentina and six days in Peru.
The pope has sharply criticised the direction of global leadership in recent months, making his addresses to the governments of all three countries a closely watched part of the tour.
He will celebrate outdoor masses at major sites, visit a prison in Argentina and travel by helicopter to remote Andean communities in Peru.
On Sunday, he will address Argentine President Javier Milei, a right-wing libertarian regarded as a close ally of US President Donald Trump. Mr Milei attacked the pope earlier this year after he criticised the Iran war.
Mr Bruni said the pope’s speeches would explore a range of challenges facing South America, including environmental destruction, arms trafficking and political instability across the region.
“The pope brings a message of communion and unity, an invitation to recognise one another … as members of one same family,” he said.
In Lima, Peru’s capital, vendors are selling T-shirts and rosaries bearing the pope’s image, while bakeries have begun offering Leo bread.
Women held at a prison are making dolls modelled on the pontiff.
A 14m-high sculpture of Pope Leo has been installed in Callao, the port city he is scheduled to visit.
The itinerary will also take him to Cusco, the former Inca capital, and into the Amazon rainforest.
The pope plans to reconnect with his former life as Robert Francis Prevost, including a supper with priests from his old diocese of Chiclayo and a private visit to a chapel he helped rebuild.
The late Pope Francis, Pope Leo’s predecessor and an Argentine, visited Peru in 2018 but never returned to his home country.
No head of the Catholic Church has visited Argentina or Uruguay since the late 1980s.
Argentine officials estimate that seven million people will attend events involving the pope.
Latin America remains the world’s largest Catholic region in absolute numbers, yet the church has recently lost ground to rapidly expanding evangelical denominations. It has also faced difficulties responding to progressive social attitudes and increasingly individualised forms of worship.
Church leaders hope the visit will revive religious commitment and help restore confidence after abuse scandals damaged the institution’s reputation.
The Vatican said Pope Leo would meet several survivors of sexual abuse by clergy during the journey, although it has not provided further details.
He was treated last month for lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer.
Doctors said the disease was localised and that no further treatment would be required.
Mr Bruni said Pope Leo had recovered sufficiently and would not need any additional medical measures during the visit.
