MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pope Leo XIV's possible Uruguay visit remains officially unconfirmed despite local announcements

A possible visit by the pontiff to Uruguay would be the first papal trip to the country since the historic pilgrimage of John Paul II in 1988

The possible visit of Pope Leo XIV to Uruguay during the first half of November, announced on Wednesday by the intendant of the department of Florida, Carlos Enciso, does not yet have official confirmation from either the Uruguayan Catholic Church or the Vatican, according to ecclesiastical sources cited by the Montevideo Portal news outlet. The municipal official stated on his X social media account that, according to “Vatican sources” consulted by his administration, the pontiff is expected to visit the national shrine of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three as part of a possible trip to the South American country.

“We are in a position to share a great piece of news according to our Vatican sources. As part of his visit to Uruguay, in the first half of November, the presence of Leo XIV at the Shrine of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three is planned,” Enciso wrote, describing the prospective event as “of great importance not only for Catholics, but for all the inhabitants” of the department. The Florida shrine houses the image of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three, the national patron of Uruguay and a figure tied to the 1825 independence movement led by the group of the Thirty-Three Orientals.

The Catholic Church of Uruguay qualified the intendant's statements. “Obviously there are back-and-forth conversations and have been for some time; options are being weighed, but there is no official confirmation,” sources told Montevideo Portal. The possibility of a papal visit had been raised last month by the Archbishop of Montevideo, Cardinal Daniel Sturla, who estimated at “80%” the probability that the pontiff would come to the country in November. “Let us hope that 80 ends up being 100,” the cardinal said at the time.

Leo XIV, the name under which US-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost assumed the pontificate following the death of Pope Francis in 2025, is the first pontiff born in the United States and holds dual US and Peruvian nationality, which has added regional relevance to each of his trips abroad. His pontificate has been marked by criticism of the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, which has led to a sustained clash with US President Donald Trump, as well as by his pronouncements against rearmament and by his diplomatic mediation in various international conflicts.

A possible visit by the pontiff to Uruguay would be the first papal trip to the country since the historic pilgrimage of John Paul II in 1988 and would constitute an event of high institutional significance for the local Catholic hierarchy and for Uruguayan diplomacy.