Pope Leo's South America trip to go ahead, Vatican says, after lung cancer surgery
The Vatican said on Monday that Pope Leo's trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru on November 6-17 will go ahead unchanged, saying his recovery from lung cancer surgery is on track and he is fit for the 31,000km tour.
Pope Leo’s trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru will go ahead, the Vatican said on Monday, indicating that the pontiff’s recovery from lung cancer surgery is on track and that he is fit enough to make the November 6-17 journey.
The 71-year-old pope is recovering from surgery on October 13 in which doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung and diagnosed him with lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. Citing Leo’s personal physician Luigi Carbone, the Vatican said the latest medical examinations attested to his good health and favourable clinical condition, and that there were “no contraindications that would prevent him from undertaking his upcoming apostolic journey”.
The tour, with no changes to its previously published agenda, is set to be one of the most intense foreign trips taken by a Catholic leader in decades: the pope is scheduled to travel some 31,000km over a 10-city tour and give 36 speeches.
The trip will mark a homecoming of sorts for the first US pontiff, who spent decades as a missionary in Peru before his predecessor Francis called him back to Rome in 2023. “I am looking forward to returning to the continent where I’ve experienced so many moments of my life,” Leo said in the Vatican message.
Leo is returning to his duties gradually. On Sunday he addressed the faithful in St Peter’s Square, but on doctors’ advice he cancelled a day visit to the central Italian town of Assisi that had been scheduled for Tuesday.
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