Pope Leo 14 will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November, says Vatican

The trip to Peru is especially meaningful for the pope, who spent decades as a missionary and bishop in the Andean country before being elected St. Peter's successor by the college of cardinals in last year's conclave.

It is also the first trip by a pope to South America since 2018, when Francis went to Chile and Peru. Despite being Argentine, he never visited his homeland as pontiff - he was, however, in Brazil, when he participated in World Youth Day in 2013, in Rio de Janeiro.

It was the last time that a pope was in Brazil and only the second long-distance trip undertaken by Leo 14's predecessor in his pontificate. Before that, Francis visited the Italian island of Lampedusa, where he held a mass in honor of immigrants who drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe.

Over the 12 years in which he wore the Fisherman's Ring, Francis visited Latin America on apostolic trips seven times, participating in events and ceremonies in Brazil (2013), Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay (2015), Cuba (2015, on the same trip in which he visited the United States), Mexico (2016), Colombia (2017), Chile and Peru (2018), and Panama (2019).

Leo 14, pope for just over a year, has already been to Turkey and Lebanon, his first official engagement abroad, in Monaco, Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, during his ten-day trip through Africa, and in Spain, in order to inaugurate the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.

The pontiff will be in Uruguay from November 6 to 8, in Argentina from 8 to 11 and in Peru from 11 to 17, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

Although he is the first bishop of Rome in the history of the Catholic Church born in the USA, the pope is also a Peruvian citizen. Robert Prevost, as he was known, was bishop of Chiclayo, in northwestern Peru, from 2015 to 2023.

During his visit to Peru, the pope will visit that city, as well as Lima, Cusco and Pucallpa, according to the Vatican. In Argentina, it will be in Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján. In Uruguay, he will go to Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida.

The Vatican did not provide further details about the visits and said full itineraries would be released later.