Montevideo, Uruguay - Pope Leo XIV on Saturday slammed the deaths of children in areas of wealthy Uruguay gripped by drug violence and urged young people to "dare" to get married, on the second day of his South American tour.

Just three weeks after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, the 71-year-old pontiff is on a 12-day tour of the continent where he served nearly two decades as a missionary.

On Saturday, he visited the Montevideo neighborhood of Casavalle. The murder rate in the impoverished district is four times the national average, and residents spoke movingly of the dangers they faced, like commonplace gun violence.

Katherine Silva's voice cracked with emotion as she told the pope about the violence and abuse she had suffered as a child. After ending up homeless at 15, the young mother said she "went through very dark times" and "nearly died."

Ukraine Conflict Ukraine accuses Russia of intensifying strikes while pleading US for help

"There are children in Uruguay who do not go to school for fear of never returning home," Leo said.

"In a country as rich in resources as this, children should never have to go to bed hungry... Much less should they have to suffer violence to the point of losing their lives," he added.

The murder rate in Uruguay, one of Latin America's safest and wealthiest countries, has risen sharply in recent years due to its growing role in the cocaine trade.

Claudia, a 33-year-old nurse who did not wish to give her surname, described to AFP once seeing a motorcycle pull up in front of her house "and riddle someone with bullets."

"You don't know what to do when your children see a body lying there. It's become very normalized," she said.

As police helicopters flew overhead, locals waved and cheered to welcome the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, who blessed 12 new low-income houses financed by the Church.

China Top US and China officials raise trade "concerns" as APEC approaches

"Being here with you makes me feel at home, and brings back memories of the visits I made to various communities as a missionary," Leo told residents.

At a candle-lit prayer vigil on Saturday evening in Montevideo's Centenario stadium, he remarked on the "advance of secularization" in the world's most Catholic continent.

Sharply falling fertility rates in Latin America – down from nearly six children per woman in the 1950s to 1.8 children in 2024 – could spell further decline in the Catholic population.

"Young people, dare to take the step of marrying and starting a family yourselves. Don't be afraid of 'forever'!" Leo told the packed 60,000-capacity soccer venue.

"Having the pope among us is an amazing goal!" Montevideo Archbishop Daniel Sturla told the crowd.

"Pope Leo, we love you so much!" the worshippers chanted.

Latin America is the world's most Catholic continent but the number of people who define themselves as such has plummeted in the past 30 years, from 80% to 55%, a Latinobarometro poll showed.

Celebrating mass in the northwesterncity of Paysandu, Leo called on Catholics in largely secular Uruguay to be "bridge builders."

He drew applause by paying homage to the local tradition of sharing a herbal infusion called mate, sipped from a gourd with a metal straw.

"Mate has even made its way to Rome!" he joked.

At the Catholic University of Uruguay, he returned to a key theme of his papacy: the importance of ensuring AI is put at the service of human dignity.

The pope warned of "dehumanization" through the use of AI in education, and urged schools and universities to place the "person before the algorithm."

US-born Leo's tour had been in doubt after he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor, but on the flight from Rome to Montevideo, he cheerfully told journalists he was "in fairly good shape."

His tour will take him to Argentina, home of the late Pope Francis, on Sunday and then to Peru, where he served as bishop and which claims the pope as one of its own.