MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Pope Leo XIV opened a 12-day trip to Latin America in Uruguay on Friday, Nov. 6, using his first speech to call for universal access to health care, Religion News Service reported. The 70-year-old pope recently had part of his right lung removed to treat cancer, and doctors cleared him for the trip, which also includes Argentina and Peru.
Related: Pope Leo XIV Has Lung Cancer, Vatican Announces After Surgery.
What he said
“Ensuring that health care is accessible to everyone, regardless of their resources, is a duty that confronts every society,” Leo told political and diplomatic officials in Montevideo, RNS reported. He said his own illness made him aware of the many people who cannot get the treatment they need.
He also asked that religion not be “confined to the private sphere,” RNS reported.
A secular audience
Leo is the first pope to visit Uruguay since John Paul II in the late 1980s. Just 36% of the population is Catholic, according to an August survey by Equipos Consultores, RNS reported. Pew Research Center found in 2020 that Uruguay was the only Latin American country without a Christian majority, with 52% of people religiously unaffiliated.
In 1919, the government renamed more than 30 towns with religious names and renamed public holidays, RNS said; Christmas became “Day of the family.” In the Equipos Consultores survey, 50% of Uruguayans viewed Leo favorably or expected the visit to benefit the country.
What happens next
On Saturday, Leo presided over Mass in Paysandú, RNS reported. The trip continues in Argentina and Peru, where he lived for decades as a missionary and bishop.
More coverage is in our Religion section.
Sources
- Religion News Service: In Uruguay, Pope Leo XIV greets Latin America’s most secular country
- Religion News Service: Pope Leo XIV calls for universal access to health care in Uruguay
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