Tens of thousands of people gathered in Paysandú, Uruguay, on Saturday to hear Pope Leo XIV urge South American nations to bridge their divides. He spoke at an open-air event on the Argentine border, just weeks after lung cancer surgery, Reuters reports. It was the first big moment of the Pope Leo South America trip.
Many in the crowd waited overnight in heavy rain that eased shortly before he arrived, according to Reuters copy carried by Devdiscourse. Leo is the first pope ever to visit the city.
Why a papal visit to Latin America matters to American readers
Latin America is home to roughly 40% of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. So what an American pope says there carries weight far beyond a church pew.
Uruguay, described by NPR as the region’s most secular country, is an interesting place to open a trip about unity. American politics follow him, too. He recently said he mailed in his Illinois ballot, as we covered in our look at his midterm vote.
Pope Leo Uruguay: Why a border town?
The setting was the message. Paysandú is a riverside economic hub in northwest Uruguay, about 378 kilometers (235 miles) from Montevideo. The pope picked a place where two countries meet to talk about how they treat each other. He urged Latin Americans to act with “justice, honesty and faithfulness” toward one another, per Reuters.
The speech built on his first address of the trip on Friday. There, he told Uruguay’s government that South American nations should tackle regional problems together. They should also set an example for international cooperation, Reuters reported.
The Pope Leo XIV trip is remarkable for one reason
Here’s the thing: Leo is 71 and had surgery on Oct. 13 to remove a tumor from his right lung. Doctors cleared him to travel, PBS NewsHour reports. Reuters calls this one of the most intense foreign trips by a pope in decades. It started less than a month after surgery.
The trip runs Nov. 6 through 17 across Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. For Leo, it doubles as a homecoming. He spent decades as a missionary in Peru and became a Peruvian citizen. He is also speaking up more on world affairs, as the historic AI encyclical he launched showed.
What to watch next as the Pope Leo Argentina stop begins
The politics get sharper next. Reuters says Leo heads to Argentina on Sunday afternoon. There he will meet and address President Javier Milei, a libertarian seen as a close ally of President Donald Trump.
Leo will also meet business leaders, trade unions, workers and social representatives at the Argentine Catholic University. Union leaders plan to brief him on rising unemployment, poverty and falling purchasing power, according to PBS. Official data put Argentina’s poverty rate at 32.3% in the first half of 2026, about 15 million people.
Francis, the late Argentine pope, never returned to his homeland during his 12-year papacy. His relationship with Milei was tense. Leo carries that unfinished business with him. As Vatican expert Christopher White put it to the Buenos Aires Times, Leo now “carries forward that mantle and legacy.”
So what does a pope who just told two neighbors to build bridges say when he sits down with Milei?
