Pope on 'homecoming' tour, one month after lung surgery

Pope Leo XI has arrived in Uruguay, beginning an ambitious 12-day trip across South America that is expected to attract millions of people.

The first US-born pope returns to a Catholic stronghold where he lived for decades as a missionary.

The 71-year-old, who underwent lung cancer surgery last month, will also travel to Argentina and Peru.

It is on one of the most demanding overseas tours taken by a pope in decades.

Earlier this week, the Vatican said that he had recovered from his operation and that no special precautions were being taken for the tour.

Pope Leo will travel 31,000km across 10 cities and give 36 speeches.

Speaking on the flight from Rome, he said that he feels "in fairly good shape", that he never doubted he would go ahead with visit and his experience reaffirmed his belief in healthcare as a human right.

"I know some people were doubtful about this trip taking place," the pope told journalists.

"I confess that, from the first day, I had no doubt and was convinced that this trip had to go forward.

"I'm very happy to say, praise the Lord, and thanks to wonderful medical assistance, I'm here today, I think in fairly good shape."

Asked his secret for being able to travel so soon after his surgery, Pope Leo responded: "Faith in God, good doctors and a healthy life".

He said the experience of being in hospital had given him "a sense of commitment of wanting to continue to be close to those who are sick but also to say ... how healthcare should be a right of all people."

The pontiff, who is a tennis player, also said that he had not returned to court, "but I will".

Pope Leo was born in the US city of Chicago but spent decades in Peru and became a Peruvian citizen.

He considers the visit a "homecoming to places where he spent a long time and to which he feels closely connected," said Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni.

The pope said that he was looking forward to returning to countries "so dear to me".

He told pilgrims - at his weekly audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday - that he hoped the trip would "strengthen the faith, renew hope, (and) rekindle the fire of charity".

The pontiff will stay in Uruguay - Latin America's most security country and one of the wealthiest - until Sunday, visiting three cities.

A tight security operation is in place, with 5,000 police officers and 1,000 soldiers mobilised.

Pope Leo will be driven along the capital Montevideo's waterfront promenade in a custom-made popemobile, before meeting left-wing President Yamandu Orsi and receiving the keys to the city.

From Uruguay, he will travel to Argentina for three days, before spending six days in Peru.

The pope, who has forcefully decried the direction of global leadership in recent months, will address the governments in each country in closely watched speeches.

He will also lead outdoor masses at major sites, visit a prison in Argentina and head to remote Andean communities in Peru by helicopter.

On Sunday, he will give an address to Argentine President Javier Milei, a right-wing libertarian seen as a close ally to US President Donald Trump, who attacked the pope earlier this year after he criticised the Iran war.

Mr Bruni said the speeches during the tour would address a range of issues facing South America, including environmental destruction, arms trafficking and regional political instability.

"The pope brings a message of communion and unity, an invitation to recognise one another ... as members of one same family," he said.

In the Peruvian capital, Lima, vendors are selling T-shirts and rosaries with his image on them, and Leo bread is on sale in bakeries.

Inmates in a women's prison are crafting dolls in his likeness.

A 14m high sculpture of the pontiff has been erected in the port city of Callao, which he is to visit.

The trip will take him to the former Inca capital of Cusco and the Amazon rainforest.

The pope will also revisit his former life as Robert Francis Prevost, from a supper with priests of his old diocese of Chiclayo to a private visit to a chapel that he helped rebuild.

The late Pope Francis - Pope Leo's predecessor from Argentina - visited Peru in 2018 but never returned home.

A head of the Catholic Church has not visited Argentina or Uruguay since the late 1980s.

Argentine officials have said that seven million people will attend events with the pope.

Latin America has long been the world's largest Catholic region in absolute numbers, but the church has been losing ground recently to fast-growing evangelical denominations and has struggled to respond to progressive social attitudes and individualised forms of worship.

It hopes the visit can reenergise faith and help repair its standing after abuse scandals tarnished its reputation.

Pope Leo will hold several meetings with survivors of sexual abuse by clergy during the trip, the Vatican said, without yet providing further details.

He was treated last month for lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer.

Doctors said the disease was localised and he would not require any further treatment.

Mr Bruni said that Pope Leo had recovered enough and no additional medical measures would be necessary during the visit.