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Avión papal blanco en la pista de un aeropuerto de Montevideo a la luz dorada de la tarde, con público a lo lejos
Imagen alusiva generada por EPM: la llegada del avión papal a Montevideo. · EPM (imagen generada)

Leo XIV begins South America tour with message of peace

Leo XIV took off from Rome at 7.05 bound for Montevideo on his sixth apostolic journey, covering Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, with a ceremony in Plaza…

--- The context --- Leo XIV began his sixth apostolic journey to South America on November 6, a tour that includes Uruguay, Argentina and Peru and places at its center the wishes for peace and fraternity of those peoples, at a time marked by the inequality that the exchange between Rome and Montevideo itself put on the table. Uruguay is the first stop and also a setting with history: it will be the second visit by a Pope to that country, after the trips by John Paul II in 1987 and 1988, and it will open a schedule combining institutional meetings and religious activities until the return to Rome on 17. --- The facts --- The pontiff took off at 7.05 from Rome's Fiumicino airport on an Ita Airways Airbus, after greeting those who accompanied him on the tarmac. The flight lasts about thirteen and a half hours and arrival in Montevideo is expected around 16.30 local time. Uruguay will host him until November 8. After the welcome at Carrasco airport, at 17.30 he will take part in the official ceremony in Plaza Independencia with President Yamandú Orsi, greet the vice president, the head of the Supreme Court and three former presidents, and meet authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps. After Orsi's welcome message, Leo XIV will deliver his first speech in the country. At 18.15 he will visit the president at the José Artigas building, around 18.45 he will move to the Metropolitan Cathedral to preside over vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, religious and seminarians, and at 20 he will return to the Nunciature. --- The positions --- From the air, while flying over Italy, the Pope sent a telegram to President Sergio Mattarella in which, as conveyed, he asked that the wishes for peace and fraternity of those peoples be entrusted to the intercession of the Virgin Mary and sent a greeting while praying for Italy's well-being. Mattarella replied, according to his message, that he trusted the tour would awaken broad hopes and be a source of inspiration for the whole world, and he linked that expectation to inequality worsened by international conflicts and environmental changes, while also recalling the hundreds of thousands of Italians who emigrated to Latin America. --- What remains unknown --- The source does not yet detail the full content of the first speech in Montevideo or the specific topics to be addressed in the following stages in Argentina and Peru, so the political and social reach of each stop will become known as the tour progresses. --- Unanswered questions --- What will Leo XIV say in his first speech in Uruguay about peace and fraternity? How will the tour address the inequality that Mattarella pointed to in his reply? What messages will the journey leave in Argentina and Peru before the return to Rome on 17? --- EPM analysis --- The progressive reading of this tour underlines its social dimension: it is not only a pastoral visit, but a presence in societies that await accompaniment, as the Italian president noted, and where words on inequality, conflicts and environmental changes can resonate well beyond the religious sphere. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, this journey matters because it focuses on those awaiting accompaniment amid inequality and not only on the official events in Montevideo. If the first speech connects peace and fraternity with the real problems the source mentions, the tour can open necessary conversations in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. Its final measure will not be the ceremony in Plaza Independencia, but whether its words remain as concrete inspiration for peoples seeking a better future.
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