ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT — Three countries in 12 days, a dozen flights, two helicopter rides and nine Masses on a trip covering around 19,000 miles.Less than a month after Pope Leo XIV underwent cancer surgery, he set off on what the Vatican called a “homecoming” tour of South America.The 71-year-old’s long trip across the strongly Catholic region will take him to Uruguay and Argentina, as well as to Peru, where he lived for decades and served as a bishop until 2023.
Leo considers the tour, one of the most grueling undertaken by a Catholic leader in decades, a “homecoming to places where he spent a long time and to which he feels closely connected,” Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told journalists at a briefing Tuesday.The Chicago-born pontiff, who is also a citizen of Peru, told pilgrims at his weekly audience in St.
Peter’s Square on Wednesday that he was hoping to “strengthen the faith, renew hope” and “rekindle the fire of charity.” Leo will hold several meetings with survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy during the trip, the Vatican has said, without yet providing further details.Bruni said the pope would also address a range of issues facing the continent, including environmental destruction, arms trafficking and regional political instability, bringing “a message of communion and unity.” Leo during a memorial Mass for cardinals and bishops who died over the past year, at St.Peter's Basilica on Thursday.Matteo Pernaselci / GettyLeo departed from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport early Friday, and is due to arrive in Uruguay at 4:30 p.m.
local time (2:30 p.m.ET) for the country’s first papal visit since 1988.
Considered the most secular country in the region, where only a fraction of people go to Mass regularly, Uruguay was the first in the world to legalize marijuana for recreational use and the second country in Latin America to decriminalize abortion.For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERSBomb threats fuel disruptio...