Pope Leo to visit Uruguay in November, part of regional tour

Pope Leo is scheduled to visit Uruguay in November, according to Uruguayan news outlet Teledoce, which cited the Catholic Church in Montevideo.

Uruguay’s foreign ministry confirmed to Reuters that preparations for the visit are underway. The trip is part of a broader tour of southern Latin America announced in February and is expected to include stops in Peru and Argentina.

The visit will be particularly notable in Uruguay, one of the region’s most secular countries, where the separation of church and state is formally observed.

Pope Leo’s tour is expected to draw large crowds, as many people will come to see a pontiff who spent decades as a missionary in Peru.

Leo, formerly U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost, was first ordained a bishop for the diocese of Chiclayo in northwest Peru and became a Peruvian citizen in 2015.

-Reporting by Kylie Madry and Lucinda Elliott; Editing by Natalia Siniawski/Reuters