Pope Leo XIV left Rome on Friday for a 12-day visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, about three weeks after surgery that removed a tumor and the lower lobe of his right lung^1,2,4.

An ITA Airways A330 carrying the 71-year-old pontiff took off from Fiumicino Airport at 7:05 a.m. local time, bound for Montevideo after a flight of about 13 and a half hours^2,4.

Colombia One reported that the October operation at Rome's Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic found pulmonary adenocarcinoma and that doctors cleared him to keep the trip³. The BBC said his medical team later said the cancer had not spread¹.

Vatican communications director Maria Montserrat Alvarado told reporters he had confirmed the schedule with no changes and was enthusiastic about it^1,3. Spokesperson Matteo Bruni said the pope does not have a chronic illness and had recovered from surgery, describing him as a 71-year-old who had an operation rather than someone with a permanent medical condition^1,3.

The tour, the longest and farthest of his papacy so far, is scheduled through Nov. 17 with stops in Montevideo, Paysandu and Florida in Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Lujan in Argentina; and Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa in Peru^2,3,4. Colombia One said the program includes more than 50 events, 36 speeches, 12 flights and two helicopter trips³.

Uruguay, described as Latin America's most secular country, is receiving its first papal visit in about four decades^1,2. DW said tickets for a prayer vigil at Montevideo's Centenario Stadium sold out in two days².

Leo is expected to meet Uruguay's President Yamandu Orsi and Argentina's President Javier Milei^2,3. The Argentina stop is framed as a visit Francis, an Argentine, never made as pope^1,2.

Peru is a personal return: Leo worked there as a missionary from the 1980s, served as bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, and holds Peruvian citizenship^3,4.

In Lima on Thursday, U.S. nonprofit Bishop Accountability presented a list of 77 clergy publicly accused of sexually abusing minors in Peru and called for a zero-tolerance decree, the Buenos Aires Times reported⁵. The Vatican has said Leo will meet abuse victims on the trip without giving details⁵.

Independent clinical records of the pope's recovery were not published. Outlets described a demanding itinerary while repeating Vatican statements that no extraordinary medical measures are planned^1,3.

Not medical advice.