Pope Leo to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November

Pope Leo will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to 17, the Vatican announced on Wednesday, in a major trip for the Catholic leader who spent decades as a missionary and bishop in Peru before becoming pope last year.

The pope will spend November 6-8 in Uruguay, 8-11 in Argentina and 11-17 in Peru, the Vatican said.

Leo, the first U.S.-born pontiff, is also a citizen of Peru, where he served as bishop of Chiclayo, in the northwest, from 2015 to 2023.

The pope will visit Chiclayo as well as Lima, Cusco and Pucallpa while in Peru, the Vatican said. In Argentina, he will visit Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Lujan. In Uruguay, he will visit Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida.

The Vatican did not offer further details about the visits, saying the full itineraries would be made available later.

A Catholic pope has not visited South America since the late Pope Francis made a trip to Chile and Peru in 2018. Francis, originally from Argentina and the first pope from the Americas, never made a visit to his home country as pontiff.

-Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Janet Lawrence/Reuters