Pope Leo XIV begins Latin America tour after lung-cancer surgery

Pope Leo XIV has begun a 12-day tour of Latin America three weeks after undergoing surgery to remove a lung tumour, telling journalists travelling with him that he was in “pretty good health”. The trip had been questioned after doctors discovered the tumour during a routine scan last month, but the Vatican said the operation was successful and that the cancer had not spread. The 71-year-old pontiff arrived in Uruguay, the first stop on a journey that will also take him to Argentina and Peru.

He told reporters on the plane that he was “very happy” to be making the trip and said he had never doubted that it should go ahead. “Thanks to the marvellous medical staff... I believe I am in quite good health,” he said, according to BBC News.

Crowds lined the seafront in Montevideo as the Pope’s Popemobile passed. During his first speech, at Plaza Independencia, he connected his own medical treatment with the difficulties faced by people unable to obtain timely diagnosis or care. Pope Leo said universal healthcare should be “accessible to everyone”.

His comments focused on those who lack the means to receive treatment, drawing on his experience of having access to medical staff following his diagnosis and operation. He later prayed at Montevideo Cathedral. The tour will cover more than 20,000 miles and is described by France 24 as the second leg of his South America visit.

The broadcaster said the Pope was expected to attract the largest turnout of his papacy so far when he travelled to Argentina, while also examining the political significance of the tour. Argentina is the homeland of Pope Francis, Leo’s predecessor, who did not return there during his own papacy. Leo’s final stop will be Peru, where the Vatican has described his return as a “homecoming”.

He spent many years in Peru as a missionary and later as a bishop, making the visit particularly significant in the itinerary. The Pope said his purpose was to be close to people looking to the Church for a message of hope. The schedule and scale of the journey will test his recovery only weeks after surgery, although the reports supplied contain no indication of complications since the operation.

The tour therefore combines a major regional visit with the Pope’s first public account of his health since the diagnosis. His own assurance that he is well enough to travel, together with the Vatican’s statement that the cancer had not spread, has allowed the programme to proceed. In Uruguay, his opening message placed healthcare access at the centre of his public remarks before the tour moves on to countries tied to his predecessor and to his own earlier ministry.