Rome, Italy - Weeks after undergoing lung cancer surgery, Pope Leo XIV is returning to South America on Friday for an emotionally charged reunion with the continent that helped shape his priesthood.
The 71-year-old pope will, over the course of 12 days, visit Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. It is one of the most intense papal foreign trips in decades, the pontiff meeting with political leaders, prisoners, the poor, and old friends.
A smiling Leo waved to onlookers before boarding his plane under overcast skies at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Friday.
The Church's first US-born pope served for almost two decades in Peru as a missionary, forming a deep attachment to the continent. Leo said on Wednesday he was looking forward to returning to those countries "so dear to me."
"On Friday, I will travel to South America to visit Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru," Leo said in a statement posted to X on Wednesday.
"I entrust myself to your prayers, so that this journey may strengthen faith, renew hope, rekindle the fire of charity, and encourage us to continue joyfully proclaiming the Gospel."
Despite undergoing an operation on October 13 to remove a cancerous tumor, doctors have given him the all-clear to travel, and the Vatican said no special medical measures were necessary beyond the standard care on papal trips.
Leo begins his trip in Uruguay, Latin America's most secular country – and one of the wealthiest. He will be driven along Montevideo's waterfront promenade before meeting left-wing President Yamandu Orsi and receiving the keys to the city.
The pope will then travel to Argentina on Sunday, the homeland of his predecessor Pope Francis, who disappointed many Argentinians by not returning during his papacy.
"History's first Latin American pope, Francis, never returned to his homeland. Leo, a Peruvian citizen, now carries forward that mantle and legacy," said Christopher White, author of a book on Pope Leo.
The South America trip culminates in Peru, and Leo's arrival there on Wednesday will be "a moment full of symbolism and emotion," White said.