Pope Leo XIV is kicking off a three-nation tour of Latin America with a visit to Uruguay, the region’s least Catholic and most secular country, three weeks after undergoing lung cancer surgery that had put the entire trip into question.
asserted
that → kick → question
Leo is due to arrive in Montevideo after a 13-and-a-half hour flight from Rome.
asserted
Leo → arrive → Rome
He has a packed three-day itinerary in Uruguay including a visit to a neighborhood plagued by gang violence, a Mass in Paysandú, some 375 kilometers (230 miles) from the capital, and another Mass in the city of Florida, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.
asserted
He → have → Florida
The Uruguay leg is the first stop on what will be the longest and farthest trip of his pontificate, all being undertaken as the 71-year-old pope continues his recovery.
asserted
pope → undertake → recovery
The trip will also bring him to neighboring Argentina and finally back home to Peru, where Leo served as a missionary priest and bishop for two decades.
asserted
Leo → bring → decades
The way that he’s singing is incredible.
asserted
he → sing → ?
And you can only sing if your lungs are really strong,” said Maria Montserrat Alvar, the Vatican’s new communications chief.
asserted
Alvar → sing → ?
She noted that Leo has passed the 14-day convalescence period required by doctors after his Oct. 13 surgery and is eager to get on the road.
asserted
Leo → note → road
“His doctors are very confident and he’ll have plenty of medical care on board should something happen, but we don’t see that in his prognosis or even in the way that he’s acting,” she said.
asserted
she → have → way
A first stop in secular Uruguay
In Uruguay, which hasn’t had a papal visit since 1988, Leo is expected to try to remind the 3.5 million people of their strong Catholic heritage stemming from the times of Spanish colonial rule.
asserted
Leo → have → rule
He is likely to propose the faith anew as an answer to today’s challenges and problems.
asserted
He → propose → challenges
Upon arrival, Leo will meet with President Yamandú Orsi, leader of the center-left alliance that assumed power in Uruguay in March 2025, and then deliver his welcome address to government officials and diplomats.
asserted
that → meet → officials
He finishes the long day with a vespers service at the city’s cathedral.
asserted
He → finish → cathedral
Leo will find in Uruguay a country unlike any other in Latin America, which is home to around 40% of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
asserted
which → find → Catholics
Uruguay is considered the most secular country in the region, where only a fraction of people who identify as Catholic actually go to Mass regularly.
asserted
who → consider → Mass
Uruguay was the first country in the world to legalize marijuana for recreational use, the second country in Latin America to decriminalize abortion, and the third country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage.
asserted
Uruguay → legalize → marriage
More recently, it became the first country in the region to approve assisted dying legislation over the strong opposition of the Catholic Church, evidence of Uruguay’s entrenched, church-state separation that prohibits any mention of God in oaths of office.
asserted
that → become → office
Leo is expected to recall the church’s opposition to abortion and euthanasia as part of his broader argument about upholding human dignity in all phases of life.
asserted
Leo → expect → life
Uruguayan church officials have marveled at the apparent enthusiasm the visit has provoked, with reports that tickets to Leo’s prayer vigil at Montevideo’s Centenario Stadium were snapped up after two days.
asserted
tickets → marvel → days
“It seems that the pope’s presence is shifting something here and is gradually breaking down this veil that has always sought to obscure and diminish the presence of the Catholic tradition that lies at the country’s foundation,” said Guzmán Carriquiry, the Uruguayan former head of the Vatican’s pontifical commission for Latin America.
asserted
Carriquiry → seem → America
“I believe this pope will stir up questions in the hearts of Uruguayans — disturbing questions — questions about meaning and, we hope, questions about faith,” he said.
asserted
he → believe → faith
Recalling the Catholic origins of independence
Carriquiry said he expects Leo will seek to revive the Catholic roots of Uruguay, especially when he travels to Florida on Sunday to mark an important Catholic feast day.
asserted
he → recall → day
The Nov. 8 feast commemorates the Virgin of the Thirty-three, a small wooden icon of the Virgin Mary that is intricately connected to Uruguay’s independence movement.
asserted
that → commemorate → movement
According to tradition, 33 independence patriots acquired the Guaraní statue and had it with them when independence was declared from the Brazilian empire in Florida on Aug. 25, 1825.
uncertain
independence → accord → Aug.
“So the number 33 is an ecclesiastical symbol, a national symbol,” said Carriquiry, who was also Uruguay’s ambassador to the Holy See.
asserted
who → say → See
“And so the pope will speak there about the Catholic tradition that lies at the origin of Uruguay—that stems from Uruguay and gave rise to Uruguay—in order to revive and renew the Catholic tradition in the hearts of Uruguayans.”
asserted
that → speak → Uruguayans
Andrew Chesnut, chair of Catholic studies and an expert in the Latin American church at Virginia Commonwealth University, said he wasn’t surprised that Leo’s visit had generated enthusiasm and that he will be welcomed warmly.
asserted
he → say → enthusiasm
“But that’s not necessarily going to translate into folks in the pews,” he said.
asserted
he → go → pews
“If the overarching goal is trying to revitalize Catholicism in the most Catholic region on Earth, Uruguay is kind of a lost cause, and it has been for decades.”
asserted
it → try → decades
The Aporia
