Pope Leo XIV touched down in Uruguay on Nov. 6, opening an 11-day apostolic journey through three South American nations and marking the first time a pope has set foot in the small country since John Paul II visited in 1988, according to the Vatican's official itinerary.

The trip, which runs through Nov. 17, takes the pope to ten cities across Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. He spent the first leg in and around Montevideo before heading inland on Nov. 7 to Paysandú, where he celebrated an outdoor Mass at Parque París Londres before returning to the capital for evening meetings with a local parish and the Catholic University of Uruguay, per the published schedule.

From Uruguay, the pope moves on to Argentina — the homeland of his predecessor, Pope Francis — before the final and most personal stretch of the trip: eleven days in Peru, from Nov. 11 to 17, with stops in Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa. Leo XIV spent decades as a missionary and bishop in Peru before his election, and Peruvian officials have declared the visit a matter of national interest, with a Mass planned at Lima's Las Palmas Air Base on Nov. 16.

A pope still recovering

The journey comes just months after the 71-year-old pontiff underwent lung cancer surgery, and it follows closely on another headline-making first: in late October, the Vatican confirmed Leo XIV had cast a mail-in ballot in Illinois for the U.S. midterm elections, making him the first pope in history to vote in a U.S. general election. The Holy See's press office said he has exercised his right to vote as an American citizen whenever eligible, including during his years serving in Peru.

THE FIRST POPE TO VISIT URUGUAY SINCE JOHN PAUL II, 38 YEARS AGO

Crowds have turned out along the pope's route in Uruguay, a country where Catholics make up a shrinking but still significant share of the population. Vatican watchers see the trip as an opportunity for Leo XIV — the first American-born pope — to cement his standing across a region that remains home to the Church's largest population of Catholics, even as evangelical and secular movements continue to chip away at that base throughout Latin America.

The pope is expected to address migration, poverty and the environment during stops in Argentina and Peru, themes that defined both his and Francis's papacies, according to regional coverage of the trip. Uruguay's government treated the stop as a major diplomatic and cultural event, with national broadcasters carrying blanket live coverage of the pope's arrival and his first full day of public Masses and meetings.