Pope Leo flies to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru three weeks after lung cancer surgery

Pope Leo XIV began a 12-day trip to Latin America on Friday, just three weeks after surgery for lung cancer, BBC News reported. The tour takes in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

What the Vatican says about his health

According to the BBC, Leo himself disclosed last month that doctors found a tumour during a routine scan. The growth and the lower lobe of his right lung were removed, and his medical team confirmed the cancer had not spread. The Vatican says no extraordinary measures are being taken for the trip and described him as a "71-year-old who has undergone an operation," not someone with a "permanent medical condition." A spokeswoman said he has "fantastic stamina" and had personally confirmed the schedule with no changes. The BBC notes the tour is demanding regardless, with multiple long-haul and local flights from the Amazon to the Andes.

The stops

• Uruguay: the first stop, and the first papal visit there in four decades, in a country where the number of Catholics has fallen steeply, the BBC says.
• Argentina: the home country of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who never visited as pope. The BBC calls this leg possibly the most politically sensitive: President Javier Milei once called Francis "evil on earth" and a "communist," while Argentina's bishops have criticised Milei's spending cuts. Milei has since written on X that Argentina awaits Leo "with immense joy."
• Peru: the finale, described by the Vatican as a return to his roots. The BBC says Leo, born Robert Prevost in the U.S., spent almost 20 years in Peru on and off and holds Peruvian citizenship. He will return to the Chiclayo diocese, where he became bishop in 2014, say Mass in Cusco at more than 3,000 meters, and visit Pucallpa in the Amazon.

In all three countries the Vatican says he will meet survivors of clerical sexual abuse, an issue that clouded Francis's 2018 visit to Chile and Peru, per the BBC.

What to watch

Villanova professor Massimo Faggioli told the BBC the trip signals "that was a short episode and now we're back on track," and raised the open question of whether Leo will visit the United States while Donald Trump is president. Watch for any change to the schedule, which the Vatican says has none so far, and for what the pope says to Milei's government on poverty.

Sources: BBC News, Nov. 6, 2026. Headlines from NPR, AP, UPI and Vatican News corroborate the trip; we did not read those articles in full.