The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Leo will go ahead with his planned tour of South America, following surgery for lung cancer earlier this month.
The 71-year-old pontiff underwent a successful operation in Rome on 13 October to remove a tumour from the lower part of his right lung. The Vatican said he is looking forward to the journey "with great joy and enthusiasm". The trip is scheduled to run from 6 November to 17 November and will cover Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, following the same programme as originally planned, with visits to 10 cities.
"I am looking forward to returning to the continent where I've experienced so many moments of my life," Pope Leo said.
The Uruguay leg is due to begin on 8 November, with stops in the capital, Montevideo, and other key cities. He will then travel to Argentina, where his itinerary includes Buenos Aires. The tour ends with six days in Peru, a country where roughly 76% of the population is Catholic. Stops there include Lima, Chiclayo, Cuzco and Pucallpa.
According to Vatican News, Cardinal Castillo, the Archbishop of Lima, said the Peruvian visit would involve young people, women who help run community kitchens and members of the country's indigenous communities. He also pointed to the Pope's close ties with the people of Chiclayo, where he lived for several years. The Pope holds Peruvian citizenship.
Those links go back to 1985, when the Catholic Church sent him to Peru as a missionary at the age of 30. He joined the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, in the department of Piura, and the following year moved to the mission in Trujillo. For almost three decades he worked between the United States and Peru.
Leo announced his diagnosis himself on 11 October during his weekly Sunday prayers, telling the crowd in St Peter's Square that doctors had found a nodule on his lung. He said the growth was "well-contained" and had been caught "at an early stage", but that his doctors had advised removing it.
The surgery lasted 90 minutes, and he left Rome's Gemelli hospital on 17 October. His surgeon, Stefano Margaritora, described his condition as "absolutely satisfactory" and said there were "no clinical reasons" to prevent the trip. Tests showed the cancer was "localised".
Since the operation, the Pope has been resting and gradually returning to work. The Vatican said he has been "adjusting his daily schedule in consultation with his doctors to prioritise his recovery while continuing to fulfill the responsibilities of his ministry". It added that he is "deeply grateful for the prayers and affection he has received from throughout the world".
The Vatican also said on Friday that, on his doctors' recommendation, Leo has cancelled a planned trip to Assisi on 27 October.
