Pope Leo XIV will be traveling to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru in November for a tour that will take him back to the Peruvian diocese of Chiclayo — where he once served as bishop — and include visits with all three of the countries’ heads of state.
The Vatican published a full itinerary for his trip on Monday, which will span from November 6-17 and conclude in Peru, where he lived and served for over 20 years. The pope, the first American to serve as the earthly head of the Catholic Church, has referred to Peru on several occasions as a second home and went as far as to say he would support Peru’s soccer team over America’s in the World Cup. Peruvians celebrated his election as pontiff last year effusively, referring to him as authentically Peruvian.
Pope Leo’s visit to Argentina will also be notable given that the South American state was the homeland of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who very publicly feuded with the nation’s president, Javier Milei, and did not return to the country during his 12 years leading the Vatican. Milei, an ardent libertarian anti-communist, once referred to Pope Francis as “the representative of the evil one on Earth occupying the throne of the house of God,” but ultimately met with the Argentine pontiff before his death and made peace with the Holy See.
According to the Holy See, Pope Leo will spend November 6-8 in Uruguay, visiting three cities there including the capital of Montevideo. He is expected to meet with leftist President Yamandú Orsi and hold several religious ceremonies in the country, marking the first papal visit to Uruguay since 1988.
Pope Leo will then head to Argentina for a welcome at Buenos Aires’s Pink House, the national equivalent to America’s White House, and meetings with President Milei. He will also visit three cities in Argentina and make a stop at a prison complex in Buenos Aires.
“The visit will be particularly significant as Argentina is the home country of Pope Francis. The Pope will arrive in the country almost four decades after the last papal visit: St John Paul II travelled there in 1987,” Vatican News observed on Monday.
Pope Leo will then spend from November 11-17 in Peru. As with the other two states, he is expected to receive a presidential welcome there from conservative President Keiko Fujimori. The pontiff is expected to make four stops in the country, including the capital city of Lima, where he will begin his journey, all the way back to Chiclayo, where he is expected to meet with local clergy and residents.
The pope, formerly known as Bishop Robert Prevost, served as the bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. In his first public address after being elected, Pope Leo made special mention of Peru, sending a warm greeting to his adopted country.
“And if you allow me a word, a greeting to all and especially to my beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru, where a faithful people accompanied their bishop, shared their faith and gave so, so much to continue being a Church that is faithful to Jesus Christ,” he said at the time.
The leaders of the countries the pope is visiting are all in America this week to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly, in which heads of government are invited to give speeches on topics of importance to them. The office of Uruguayan President Orsi published the pope’s itinerary on Monday, acknowledging his forthcoming visit. The conservative presidents in Argentina and Peru published more effusive statements during the same time period, thanking the pope for prioritizing their countries and expressing excitement for his upcoming visit.
Milei’s office said, in an official statement published by the Argentine president, that it “celebrates the official announcement of the itinerary of the apostolic visit that His Holiness Pope Leo XIV will make to the Argentine Republic.”
“The national government especially thanks His Holiness for having decided to visit our country and the Holy See, the Apostolic Nuncio, and the Argentine Episcopal Conference for the dialogue and joint work developed in these months,” the statement continued. “Argentina awaits the Holy Father with joy and affection.”
President Fujimori’s office in Peru described its reaction to the pope’s announcement as one of “immense jubilation and emotion.”
“The much-anticipated arrival of the Holy Father to Peru, testimony of his profound affection for our fatherland, will traverse an historic pilgrimage through the coast, mountains, and jungles that embraces the great geographic and cultural diversity of the country,” Fujimori’s office said, “uniting all the Peruvian people with a message of peace, dialogue, and reconciliation.”