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Pope Leo XIV to Tour South America Despite Cancer Surgery
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In Short: Pope Leo XIV announced on Monday that he will travel to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from November 6 to 17, 2026, despite undergoing lung cancer surgery earlier this month.
The 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church underwent an operation fewer than three weeks ago to remove a cancerous tumor, but doctors say he requires no further treatment and have given him the all-clear for the 11-day South America trip.
Leo has said he is “looking forward to returning to the continent where I’ve experienced so many moments of my life” with the November 6 to 17 tour, which includes 12 flights, two helicopter trips, and a high-altitude prayer in the Andes.
The head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will start his trip in Uruguay, Latin America’s most secular country, where he will be welcomed by left-wing President Yamandu Orsi.
Millions of faithful are expected to flock to see the pope, who will mix pastoral encounters with speeches to leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei, a close ally of US President Donald Trump whose relationship with the Church is strained.
The Vatican has published the schedule for Pope Leo XIV's apostolic journey to Latin America, where he will visit Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from November 6 to 17.
Pope Leo XIV will meet with survivors of clergy sexual abuse during his upcoming trip to Latin America, which will take the American pope to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru.
The Vatican said the operation was successful with no implication and that Leo awoke normally after surgery, even enjoying an evening meal once the procedure was complete.
Doctors will now analyze the tissue removed from Leo's lung to determine what stage the cancer is at and whether any follow-up treatment will be needed.
The pope will then travel to Argentina, the homeland of his predecessor Pope Francis, who disappointed many Argentinians by not returning to visit during his papacy.
In Buenos Aires, the pope will sit down with Milei, a right-wing libertarian who had a tense relationship with Francis.
Pope Leo XIV has canceled his planned Oct. 27 visit to Assisi, Italy, on medical advice as he continues recovering from lung cancer surgery, the Vatican announced Friday, Oct. 23.
The cancellation comes as the Pope gradually resumes his public engagements following his Oct. 13 surgery.
Background
Pope Leo XIV will embark on a 12-day tour of South America, visiting Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from November 6 to 17, 2026, despite undergoing lung cancer surgery earlier this month.
Pope Leo XIV, who recently underwent lung cancer surgery, is set to embark on an ambitious 12-day tour of South America, starting November 6 and ending November 17, 2026.
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern subregion of the Americas.
What's confirmed
- Leo has said he is “looking forward to returning to the continent where I’ve experienced so many moments of my life” with the November 6 to 17 tour, which includes 12 flights, two helicopter trips, and a high-altitude prayer in the Andes.
- The 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church underwent an operation fewer than three weeks ago to remove a cancerous tumour, but doctors say he requires no further treatment and have given him the all-clear for the 11-day South America trip.
- READ: Pope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer, Vatican says after surgery Though the Vatican has said Leo is still in recovery, the pope will lead over 50 events, from open-air masses to meetings with Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, clerical abuse victims, and the elderly, poor and disabled.
- The head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will start his trip in Uruguay, Latin America’s most secular country, where he will be welcomed by left-wing President Yamandu Orsi.
- “This will be the most closely watched trip of Leo’s papacy to date,” Christopher White of Georgetown University in Washington and author of a book on Pope Leo, told AFP.
- “This was already going to be an intense trip… a feat even without his surgery. Now, it will be even more scrutinised,” he said.
- Millions of faithful are expected to flock to see the pope, who will mix pastoral encounters with speeches to leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei, a close ally of US President Donald Trump whose relationship with the Church is strained.
- America The pontiff will then travel to Argentina, the homeland of his predecessor Pope Francis, who disappointed many Argentinians by not returning to visit during his papacy.
- “I know he’s very much looking forward to his return to Peru. It means a lot to him personally… he has been very determined to go,” US Vatican expert Elise Ann Allen, who has written a biography of the pope, told AFP.
- “If the pope is able to pull this off, it will only bolster the image that much of the world has had of Leo since his election — of a youthful, strong, vigorous pope,” White said. /dl By providing an email address.
- His visit to Cusco, at 3,400 meters, will last under three hours but will be closely watched, amid questions over whether the pope has underestimated his cancer or beaten it with apparent ease.
- VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV is about to set off on one of the most ambitious papal foreign trips in decades, touring Uruguay, Argentina and his adopted homeland Peru, despite recent lung cancer surgery.
What's still developing
- “These meetings reflect the pope’s desire to express his solidarity with those who have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of this violence, to work with them to build paths to healing that are accessible to anyone in need, and to ensure that the church is a safe and spiritually healthy place that lives out and communicates the Gospel,” according to a Vatican statement Tuesday.
- Pope Leo XIV appeared at the window of his private study in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Sunday, just one day after being discharged early from the hospital following surgery last Tuesday.
- Peter’s Square despite a morning of cloudy skies and intermittent rain in Rome.
- The Pope underwent surgery for pulmonary adenocarcinoma at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on October 13.
Sources
- Inquirer.netlink
- Kuwait Timeslink
- Scripps Newslink
- Cruxnowlink
- AFPlink
- Filipinotimeslink
- Warpbeatlink
- Thechroniclelink
- Argentinareportslink
- Catholicstarheraldlink
- Relevantradiolink
- Ksbylink
- WarpBeat — background on Pope Leo XIV Set for South America Tour After Cancer Surgery link
- WarpBeat — background on Pope Leo XIV Set for Ambitious South America Tour After Cancer Surgery link
- Wikipedia — background on South America link
- Reuters — video link