Pope Leo XIV Announces Longest International Trip to Date Covering Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay

Pope Leo XIV is set to embark on his longest international trip to date, with the Vatican publishing a detailed itinerary for an upcoming November tour that will take the pontiff to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. The 12-day journey, scheduled for Nov. 6–17, marks the pope's first official visit to Latin America and serves as a major homecoming for the U.S.-born pontiff, who holds Peruvian citizenship and spent two decades serving there as a priest and bishop.

According to the Vatican's published schedule, the 71-year-old pontiff will cover roughly 31,000 kilometers of flight time throughout the tour. The rigorous undertaking follows an extensive four-nation Africa trip completed in April, reinforcing a travel style defined by long distances and late working hours.

The journey begins in Uruguay, a nation recognized for its deeply rooted secular identity where Christmas is officially designated as Family Day and Holy Week is observed as Tourism Week. Leo's itinerary features a stop at a parish in Casavalle, an impoverished neighborhood on the outskirts of Montevideo affected by gang violence and drug trafficking. The Uruguay leg will also coincide with Catholic celebrations on Nov. 8 honoring the country's patron saint, Our Lady of the Thirty-Three.

Following Uruguay, Pope Leo will arrive in Argentina, where government officials anticipate a massive turnout of 7 million people. The visit holds historical significance because his predecessor, Pope Francis, never returned to his native Argentina after leaving for Rome for the 2013 conclave that elected him pope. Francis, who passed away in 2025, had remained a divisive figure in his home country from his previous years as a Jesuit superior and archbishop of Buenos Aires, choosing to avoid fueling domestic political polemics by declining papal visits.

During his time in Buenos Aires, Pope Leo is scheduled to meet with libertarian President Javier Milei. Relations between the Argentine administration and church leaders have faced strain due to Milei's sweeping public spending cuts, which critics argue prioritize economic orthodoxy over the needs of impoverished citizens. On Nov. 9, the pope will visit the Don Orione care home in Claypole, a Catholic institution housing more than 300 individuals with disabilities. The stop carries distinct political context, as funding cuts to disability programs have become a prominent point of contention within Milei's austerity agenda.

At a recent press conference, Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno addressed questions regarding how government austerity aligns with the church's social justice priorities. Quirno asserted there were no fundamental differences between the administration and the Catholic Church, pointing to Milei's anti-abortion stance and stating that government policies had cut poverty in half. Pope Leo will also celebrate his first Mass in Argentina at Buenos Aires' Monumento de los Españoles, echoing a historic site where St. John Paul II held prayers in June 1982.

The most personal segment of the trip will unfold in Peru, where the pontiff will retrace his missionary footsteps and visit his former diocese of Chiclayo. Before being summoned to the Vatican by Pope Francis in 2023 to head the office for bishops, the man formerly known as Robert Prevost served as bishop of Chiclayo from 2014 to 2023. On the night of his papal election, Leo referenced his diocese from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, and his upcoming return includes stops at the churches and schools where he established long-standing relationships.

He is scheduled to celebrate Mass at the Pampas de Pimentel, a 300-hectare coastal expanse facing the Pacific Ocean where organizers anticipate an estimated 1 million attendees. The pope will also pray at a chapel dedicated to St. Oscar Romero, a figure revered among the working class and poor for defending them against military repression in El Salvador. The chapel's reconstruction and eventual renovation were heavily advanced during Leo's tenure as bishop through local efforts alongside his personal secretary, the Rev. Edgar Rimaycuna.

Continuing his Peruvian itinerary, Pope Leo will travel to Cusco in the Andes, the historic capital of the Inca empire and an important Spanish colonial center. He will lead a Mass and offer prayers in the city's main square, the historical site where Indigenous hero Túpac Amaru II was executed following a major rebellion against Spanish colonial rule. Concluding the tour on Nov. 15, the pope will travel to Pucallpa in the Peruvian Amazon to celebrate Mass and honor the country's Indigenous populations.