Pope Leo XIV lands in Uruguay, first stop of 12-day Latin America tour

Arrival in Montevideo

Pope Leo XIV landed in Montevideo on Friday, 6 November, the first stop of a 12-day tour that also takes him to Argentina and Peru and runs until 17 November. ANSA describes it as his seventh international trip and the longest of his pontificate. He spoke with roughly 80 journalists travelling with him during a flight of more than 13 hours from Rome. The 71-year-old pope had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung about three weeks earlier, and he greeted the reporters at the back of the plane with a cheerful remark.

“I'm very happy to be here myself.”

Vote in the US midterms

The pope said he was proud to be American and proud to have exercised his right to vote in the US midterm elections, which AP reports gave Democrats control of Congress in a rebuke of President Donald Trump. Asked about the result, he declined to comment and pointed to a Vatican statement of 30 October confirming he had sent a mail-in ballot from Chicago, his hometown. That statement said he votes whenever he is eligible and believes in the right and duty of citizens to take part in democratic processes.

“I'm proud to be an American and to exercise the right.”

He also holds Peruvian citizenship and lived in Peru for nearly two decades, but absentee voting is not possible there, so he could not vote in Peru's recent election. He said he would have voted anyway.

“But I would have done it. It's a good thing.”

AP noted the vote is unusual because he heads the Holy See, a foreign state. Under US federal law, American citizens who work for foreign governments keep their citizenship, and his voter registration still lists him as Robert Prevost, though the Church calls him Leo.

Health and cancer advice

Asked whether he felt as good as he looked, the pope joked that he felt "Maybe better." He credited faith in God, good doctors and a healthy lifestyle for his recovery, and said that some people had doubted the trip would go ahead while he never had any doubts. He described the care he received from his doctors as wonderful. To cancer patients he said they should not be afraid, that regular check-ups are a blessing and that the best approach is to look after themselves. Asked whether he had resumed playing tennis, he said he had not yet but would.

Ukraine and the Oleshky truce

The pope welcomed a truce in Oleshky, a town in Ukraine, between Russia and Ukraine, and thanked God for what it achieved. Italian reports say he had earlier telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to allow a truce for the town, where residents are described as reduced to hunger. He said a humanitarian gesture can save lives, hoped the truce would not be an isolated case, and warned that much work remains before peace is reached.

What comes next

The tour continues to Argentina before the pope returns to Peru, where he served as a missionary and bishop for nearly 20 years and took Peruvian citizenship in addition to his US nationality. The trip is scheduled to end on 17 November.