Follow-Up: Pope Leo XIV Departs for Uruguay, Argentina and Peru on a 12-Day Journey Covering 10 Cities and 36 Addresses
Pope Leo XIV departed Rome early on November 6 to begin his first apostolic journey to Latin America as pontiff. According to the official program published by the Holy See Press Office, the papal flight left Rome's Fiumicino International Airport at 7:00 a.m. local time for Montevideo, with arrival at Carrasco International Airport scheduled for 4:30 p.m. local time and an official welcome on arrival.
The first day's schedule is full: a welcome ceremony at Plaza Independencia at 5:30 p.m., a meeting with Uruguay's authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps at 5:45 p.m., a visit to the President of the Republic at the Edificio José Artigas at 6:15 p.m., and the celebration of Vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women and seminarians at Montevideo's Metropolitan Cathedral at 7:10 p.m.
The journey runs from November 6 to 17, twelve days across Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, covering 10 cities with 36 addresses and around 50 events over some 31,000 kilometers (19,300 miles) and 14 flights, including two by helicopter. The pope travels to Argentina on November 8, where he will meet President Javier Milei, on the first visit by a pope to Argentina in 39 years. He moves on to Peru on November 11 and stays until November 16, celebrating Mass on November 13 in Chiclayo, where he once served as bishop, before returning to Rome on the morning of November 17.
Leo, 71, is the first U.S.-born pope; he spent some two decades in Peru as a missionary and bishop and became a Peruvian citizen. Before departing, he said: "I am happy to be able to return to the continent where I have lived so many moments of my life. May this journey be an opportunity to open our hearts to one another."
The trip comes just over three weeks after the pope's lung cancer surgery in October, in which part of his right lung was removed. The Vatican has said he has recovered well and needs no further treatment; on October 26 it confirmed the South America journey would go ahead as scheduled, with doctors finding no clinical reason to prevent it. GSM will follow the journey as it unfolds. (Source: Holy See Press Office)
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Source: Holy See Press Office
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：教宗良十四世（资料图，2025年5月接见传媒时）。Edgar Beltrán／The Pillar 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Pope Leo XIV (file photo, at a media audience in May 2025). By Edgar Beltrán/The Pillar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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