Pope Leo opens Latin America tour in the region's most secular country
Seven Lights
Pope Leo XIV was greeted by around 30,000 people at Montevideo’s Plaza Independencia on Friday as he opened a 12-day tour of Latin America, beginning in Uruguay, the region’s most secular country, three weeks after surgery for lung cancer. The Vatican put the crowd at the formal welcome, alongside Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, at some 30,000.
Uruguay, home to 3.5 million people, is considered the most secular nation in Latin America, a region holding around 40 per cent of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. It was the first country in the world to legalize marijuana for recreational use, the second in Latin America to decriminalize abortion and the third in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage. It recently became the first in the region to approve assisted dying legislation, over the strong opposition of the Catholic Church.
The pope staked out the church’s position in his first speech of the trip. “It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that each person can live with dignity, receive the care they need, and be accompanied until the natural end of his or her life,” he said. He also said universal healthcare should be “accessible to everyone,” and that the care he received made him think of the “many men and women who lack the means to obtain a timely diagnosis” or treatment.
His motorcade route was lined with crowds shouting his name, some chanting “Pope Leo, Uruguay is with you!” He kissed babies passed to his popemobile, received the keys to the city from Montevideo’s mayor, celebrated Mass at a park in Paysandu north of the capital and closed the day with vespers at the cathedral. Uruguayan church officials said tickets for a prayer vigil at Montevideo’s Centenario Stadium sold out within two days.
Leo, 71, told reporters on the flight from Rome that he had never doubted the journey would go ahead. “Thanks to the marvellous medical staff… I believe I am in quite good health,” he said, crediting “trusting God, good doctors, good surgeons, and overall I think a healthy lifestyle.” Asked whether he felt as good as he looked, he replied: “Maybe better.” Doctors found the tumor on a routine scan; its removal was successful and the cancer, a localized adenocarcinoma, has not spread.
Leo travels to Argentina on Sunday, the homeland of his predecessor Francis, who did not return there during his own papacy, before a Vatican-described “homecoming” to Peru, where he spent two decades as a missionary and bishop. The tour, his sixth international journey, covers more than 20,000 miles.