Pope Leo XIV Begins Latin America Trip in Montevideo, Uruguay, Three Weeks After Lung Cancer Surgery

Pope Leo XIV arrived at Montevideo-Carrasco International Airport in Uruguay on Friday, November 6, 2026, at 4:19 p.m. local time, according to a report from rkc.org.ua. That report described his first meeting in the Square of Independence. He began a 12-day tour of Latin America that day. Other reports describe the trip as his first apostolic journey to the region, with 14 flights and almost 40 speeches, and as the longest and farthest of his papacy so far. The stops were Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru, where he had lived for two decades. Several reports said the trip began after he had undergone lung cancer surgery, and one headline placed the trip about three weeks after that operation.

That evening, at Montevideo Cathedral, the pope spoke to Uruguay’s clergy, consecrated persons, and seminarians. According to a report from rkc.org.ua, he called on them to restore intimacy with Christ. Another report described the same gathering as Vespers in the cathedral with Uruguay’s bishops, priests, religious, and seminarians. That gathering brought together the church’s leaders in the country, a picture of unity within the church (Psalm 133:1).

On Saturday, November 7, the pope celebrated what reports called his first Mass in Uruguay. Accounts of the crowd differ. One report said he spoke to an estimated 40,000 people. Another said “tens of thousands” attended, and a third said “thousands” arrived to attend the service. The reports also differ on the location, and one gave a place name that could not be matched with the others.

Reports from the trip’s early days also describe the pope’s Uruguay visit as ending on a Sunday with an important Catholic feast day tied to the country’s independence. One of these reports carries a date in August 2025, which conflicts with the November 2026 dates given in the other reports, so its timing cannot be confirmed from the supplied material. From Uruguay, the trip was set to continue to Argentina, which one report described as the most fraught stop of the tour, in the country of President Javier Milei.