MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay to open Pope Leo XIV's first South American tour

The pontiff will remain in Uruguay from November 6 to 8, visiting Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida

Uruguay will be the first stop on Pope Leo XIV's apostolic journey to South America between November 6 and 17, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, confirmed on Wednesday.

The pontiff will remain in Uruguay from November 6 to 8, visiting Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida. He will continue to Argentina, where he will be from the 8th to the 11th in Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján, and conclude in Peru from the 11th to the 17th, with stops in Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa. That is ten cities in twelve days, the longest international trip of his pontificate, surpassing April's African tour. The Vatican said he accepted invitations from the heads of state and church authorities of the three countries, and that the detailed program will be released later.

According to unofficial information published by the Montevideo newspaper El País, the plan is for the pontiff to fly early on Saturday the 7th to Paysandú and, on returning to the capital, to visit the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church in the Borro neighborhood and tour Casavalle. A Mass would be held that evening at the Centenario Stadium, and on Sunday morning the Pope would be in Florida for the feast of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three, the country's patron saint. The Holy See has not confirmed those details.

It will be the first papal visit to Uruguay in nearly four decades, after John Paul II's trips in 1987 and 1988. Uruguay has the lowest proportion of Catholics on the continent and a strictly secular state.

President Yamandú Orsi called the visit timely and a strong signal for the region. “South America appears as a region of peace. Of course, with our troubles: organized crime, all our problems, but this feels like a balm,” he said on the program Alguien tiene que decirlo.

Orsi also recounted that during his Vatican audience in October 2025, the Pope and his team had studied the parliamentary process behind Uruguay's euthanasia law and set out their views. “He is perfectly clear about who we are, our characteristics,” he said, adding that the exchange showed him the Vatican is a more significant center of political decision-making than is often assumed. Uruguay carried out its first legal euthanasia this year. The president also reflected on secularism, which he described as a distinctly Uruguayan debate, and called for firm tolerance toward all faiths.

In Argentina, presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier called the Pope's arrival a historic event and announced an interministerial team to coordinate logistics, security and protocol. The Argentine Catholic hierarchy has been critical of Javier Milei's economic policy over the past two years.

Argentina and Uruguay were not visited by Francis during his twelve-year pontificate; his last trip to the region was to Panama in January 2019. Peru had not received a pope since 2018. Robert Francis Prevost, born in Chicago in 1955 and holding Peruvian citizenship, served as a missionary there after his ordination in 1982 and led the Chiclayo diocese between 2015 and 2023. Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori said the country awaits him with open hearts.