Pope Leo XIV travels to Florida in Uruguay today, Sunday, for the feast of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three, the country’s patroness, before flying to Buenos Aires to begin the Argentine leg of his 12-day Latin America tour.
Florida lies about 100 kilometres from Montevideo, and the 8 November feast commemorates the Virgin of the Thirty-three, Uruguay’s patroness, according to the Vatican’s published programme for the apostolic journey. The pope then flies to Buenos Aires, where he will visit from 8 to 11 November, before heading to Peru on 11 November — the longest leg of the journey, taking in Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa on the edge of the Amazon rainforest.
The Sunday leg follows a packed Saturday. The pope flew to Paysandú, about 375 kilometres from the capital on Uruguay’s border with Argentina, to celebrate Mass, before returning to Montevideo for a meeting with the education community at the Catholic University of Uruguay in the evening. His itinerary also includes a visit to a neighbourhood plagued by gang violence and a stadium vigil.
A trip that nearly did not happen
Leo arrived in Uruguay on Friday afternoon, beginning a tour that runs from 6 to 17 November — the longest and farthest of his pontificate — just 24 days after undergoing surgery for lung cancer. The papal plane, a chartered ITA Airways flight, touched down at Montevideo-Carrasco International Airport at about 4.20pm local time after a 13-and-a-half-hour flight from Rome covering more than 6,900 miles, according to OSV News. The 71-year-old pope appeared energetic as he spoke to journalists aboard the plane, telling them he was “convinced that this trip had to go forward” after the operation.
Leo underwent a lobectomy — surgery to remove part of a lung — for a localised lung adenocarcinoma on 13 October. The Vatican confirmed only on 26 October that the trip would proceed as planned, after doctors were confident about his ability to travel. On arrival, he met President Yamandú Orsi, whose centre-left alliance took power in March 2025, and delivered a welcome address to government officials, civil society and diplomats at Independence Square, in front of the Edificio José Artigas.
Uruguay, Argentina, then Peru
Uruguay is the region’s least Catholic and most secular country, and it has not hosted a papal visit since St John Paul II came in 1988. The motto for the Uruguay leg is “I bring you good news of a great joy,” from Luke 2:10. The Argentine leg, from today until 11 November, takes the pope to Buenos Aires, the home city of his predecessor Francis, before the Peruvian leg — the country where Leo served as a missionary priest and bishop for two decades, and where the largest crowds of the tour are expected.
Related coverage: Pope Leo XIV Lands in Uruguay to Start Latin America Tour | Pope Leo XIV Departs Rome for 12-Day South America Homecoming
