Pope Leo embarks on Latin America trip with a first stop in Uruguay

Pope Leo XIV headed to South America on Friday morning, three weeks after undergoing lung cancer surgery, to visit a continent where he spent long periods of his priesthood. The 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church will in 12 days visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in one of the most intense papal foreign trips in decades, meeting political leaders, prisoners, the poor. as well as old friends and for more on this papal visit to south america we can go to france 24's hannah roberts in rome good afternoon hannah this is a homecoming of sorts for pope leo the the former father robert prevost this is a return to the continent where he spent two decades as a mission and he will start his trip in uruguay in montevideo the where he's going to meet people affected by poverty and gang violence initially before flying up to the northern borderlands of Uruguay, an area that's traditionally been underserved by the church in an already quite secular country. And he'll hold a major mass there for those Catholics that don't normally get much attention. From then he'll travel to the second leg of his trip in Argentina where he'll pay tribute to his predecessor Pope Francis who was from Buenos Aires with a mass in Buenos Aires Cathedral and a visit to prisoners in the prison in Buenos Aires. He'll then meet with President Javier Millet, which is where there's a possibility of tensions because Millet has announced that Argentina is to become a haven with AI-free regulation for tech, whereas Pope Leo has been outspoken that AI needs to be regulated and governed by humanity rather than by tech companies. From that point on. He will travel to Peru which is really the most personal part of his trip. He will meet with indigenous communities in the Andes and travel to the Amazon where he'll hold a Mass as well as holding a Mass in his old diocese of Chiclay. Now it's three weeks on from the Pope's cancer surgery. Are there any concerns for him traveling so soon after this? Absolutely, it's a punishing schedule with long flights and huge distances and high altitude destinations. And it's only been a few weeks since Leo himself announced his tumor in St. Peter's Square, that his prognosis is good. The doctors say he doesn't need any further treatment. And the Vatican are taking some care to make sure he's okay. They're saying they're going to deploy the Popemobile so that he has less time standing up to save his lungs. And they're going to build in... Longer rest periods, so where he would have been resting for, say, 15 minutes and now have 25 or 30 minutes to convalesce. So some minor concessions, but this was a trip close to Leo's heart and he didn't want to let anyone down. That much is clear. Thank you very much for that. France 24's Hannah Roberts in Rome.