Portugal Colonial - Pope Leo readies for 'intense' South America homecoming

The 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church underwent an operation fewer than three weeks ago to remove a cancerous tumour, but doctors say he requires no further treatment and have given him the all-clear for the 11-day South America trip.

Leo has said he is "looking forward to returning to the continent where I've experienced so many moments of my life" with the November 6 to 17 tour, which includes 12 flights, two helicopter trips, and a high-altitude prayer in the Andes.

Millions of faithful are expected to flock to see the pope, who will mix pastoral encounters with speeches to leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei, a close ally of US President Donald Trump whose relationship with the Church is strained.

Though the Vatican has said Leo is still in recovery, the pope will lead over 50 events, from open-air masses to meetings with Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, clerical abuse victims, and the elderly, poor and disabled.

- Closely watched -

"This will be the most closely watched trip of Leo's papacy to date," Christopher White of Georgetown University in Washington and author of a book on Pope Leo, told AFP.

"This was already going to be an intense trip... a feat even without his surgery. Now, it will be even more scrutinised," he said.

The head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics will start his trip in Uruguay, Latin America's most secular country, where he will be welcomed by left-wing President Yamandu Orsi.

The liberal nation is at odds with the Catholic Church on same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia -- which was legalised last year -- and Leo is expected to appeal to protect life.

The pontiff will then travel to Argentina, the homeland of his predecessor Pope Francis, who disappointed many Argentinians by not returning to visit during his papacy.

Officials expect seven million pilgrims to turn out for Leo. In Buenos Aires, the pope will sit down with Milei, a right-wing libertarian who had a tense relationship with Francis.

Though Milei's exchanges with Leo have proved less turbulent, local Church leaders have been vocal about the high human cost of the president's efforts to revive the ailing economy, with millions of vulnerable citizens left on the breadline.

- Homecoming -

The South America trip will culminate with an emotional homecoming in Peru.

"I know he's very much looking forward to his return to Peru. It means a lot to him personally... he has been very determined to go," US Vatican expert Elise Ann Allen, who has written a biography of the pope, told AFP.

Before becoming Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost served for nearly two decades in the Andean country, including as bishop in the coastal city of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023.

The world's first US-born pontiff, who holds Peruvian citizenship, will celebrate mass on a desert plain near the Pacific Ocean, before visiting Cusco, the former Inca capital, and Pucallpa, a city in the Amazon rainforest.

In Lima, he will meet Peru's right-wing President Keiko Fujimori, daughter of late former leader Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for corruption and crimes against humanity, and on whose legacy she leans.

Leo will likely discuss the ills plaguing Peru, from a major crime wave driven by contract killings and rampant extortion, to the cocaine industry -- one of the world's largest -- and its impact on Indigenous peoples.

He is also expected to address Peru's political instability -- Fujimori is the country's ninth leader in a decade -- and the importance of protecting the dignity of migrants in a country home to some 1.6 million Venezuelans.

Leo's visit to Cusco, at an altitude of 3,400 metres, will be brief -- under three hours -- but highly scrutinised, amid questions over whether the pontiff has underestimated his cancer, or beaten it with apparent ease.

"If the pope is able to pull this off, it will only bolster the image that much of the world has had of Leo since his election -- of a youthful, strong, vigorous pope," White said.

N.Esteves--PC