Pope Leo XIV left Rome on Friday, November 6, 2026, for his first trip to Latin America — a twelve-day tour through Uruguay, Argentina and Peru with a packed schedule of nine public Masses, ten cities and around a dozen flights. For anyone planning a trip to the region this month, expect heightened security, road closures and big crowds in city centres on the dates below.
The itinerary opens in Uruguay (November 6-8), with stops in Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida. Highlights include a welcome at Plaza Independencia, Mass in Paysandú, a prayer vigil at the iconic Centenario Stadium, and a Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three in Florida.
Argentina follows from November 8 to 11 — the first papal visit there since John Paul II in 1987, and notably to the homeland of the late Pope Francis. Leo XIV meets President Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada, celebrates Mass at the Monumento de los Españoles and the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján, and makes a side trip to Córdoba, plus visits to a youth prison complex and a charity in Claypole.
Peru is the emotional core of the trip (November 11-17). The Pope — born Robert Prevost in Chicago — spent roughly two decades there as a missionary and was bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, and holds Peruvian citizenship. He'll visit Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa: a Mass near the beach town of Pimentel, a coronation rite in Chiclayo's cathedral, a prayer at the Saqsaywaman ruins above Cusco, and meetings with Amazonian communities in Pucallpa before a final Mass at Lima's Las Palmas Air Base.
The Vatican also confirmed the Pope is fit to travel after October 13 surgery at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where his right lung's lower lobe was removed following a lung cancer diagnosis; doctors report a full recovery. The programme has not changed.
Why should a traveller care? If you're in Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Lima or Cusco during these windows, plan around it: public transport will be rerouted, plazas and stadiums will be packed, and hotel availability in central districts may be tight. On the flip side, it's a rare chance to witness a papal Mass in some of South America's most striking settings — a stadium vigil in Montevideo, Mass by the Andes in Cusco. If you'd rather avoid the chaos entirely, simply shift your city visits by a few days; the rest of each country carries on as normal.
For pilgrims and curious travellers alike, the Vatican has published the full schedule of times and venues, so you can plan around specific events rather than guessing at crowds.
Via The Tico Times
