The visit of Pope Leo XIV in Uruguay, live | The Pope: “I am proud to be an American and to have exercised my right to vote”

Leo XIV: "I am proud to be an American and to have voted"

Pope Leo XIV claimed this Friday his right to vote in the midterm elections held on Tuesday in the United States. "I am proud to be an American and to exercise my right," said the pontiff, born in Chicago, when answering questions from journalists during the flight for his tour in Latin America that will take him to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

He also added that in Peru you cannot vote by mail, but that if he could "he would have done it too," since he has the nationality of that country, where he lived for 20 years as a missionary and as bishop of Chiclayo.

This is the first time that it has been known and confirmed that a pontiff exercises the right to vote in elections in his country of origin.

The Pope talks about his health: "I feel quite well"

The Pope began his tour of South America this Friday just a month after having undergone an operation to remove a malignant tumor in his lung. "I know that some had doubts about whether this trip would ever take place. However, from the first day I was fully convinced that it should take place," Leo XIV told journalists traveling with him on the papal plane. "I thank God. Thanks to the excellent medical care I have, I feel quite well," he added. The secret of his recovery, he confessed, is "faith in God, good doctors and a healthy life."

Robert Prevost, born in the United States, spent 20 years of his life in Peru as a missionary and bishop and defines that country, the final leg of his tour, as "a second home." "I feel very happy to be able to return," he said during the flight. He stressed that he misses from Latin America "the fervor, the expression of the people's faith and the way of living as Christians."

The Pope recalled "that the main reason for this trip is to continue the mission of the Bishop of Rome, sharing the joy of the Gospel and announcing the Good News. We must walk alongside the people, expressing that closeness that they so need (...), since today they seek with special longing for a message of hope."

Leo XIV lands in Montevideo

Leo XIV is already in South America, the continent where he served as bishop and to which he now returns for the first time as Pope. The plane landed at 4:20 p.m. this Friday in Montevideo, the first stop on an eleven-day tour that will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. It had been almost four decades since a pontiff had visited this southern tip of America, not even in Argentina, the homeland of Francis, his predecessor.

It starts in one of the most secular countries on the continent, but where you will find a Government compatible with your preaching in favor of social justice, the defense of the weakest and coexistence as an antidote to polarization. The meeting with the Uruguayan president, Yamandú Orsi, is scheduled for this Friday, after a first public appearance in the Plaza de la Independencia, which began to fill with parishioners after noon.

South American Catholics held their breath a month ago when Leo XIV underwent surgery to remove lung adenocarcinoma. The announcement that he had recovered and the tour was going ahead resumed preparations to see him. In total, it will total 31,000 kilometers, travel through ten cities, take 14 flights and give nearly 40 speeches.

This Friday, in addition to meeting with the political and religious authorities, Leo XIV will receive the Key to the city of Montevideo in the Cabildo and will cross the square surrounded by a human cordon of children towards the Cathedral. The tour will continue tomorrow with a tour of Casavalle - one of the poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of Montevideo -, a mass mass in the city of Paysandú and a meeting with the world of education at the Argentine Catholic University. The high point of the pastoral visit will be the mass celebrated on Sunday in Florida, the city that houses the Virgin of the Thirty-Three, the highest religious figure of Uruguay and patron saint of the country.

From Uruguay he will leave for Argentina, a stopover that will be marked by the memory of Francisco and by the meeting with Javier Milei, Donald Trump's most unconditional ally on the continent and speaker of his far-right policies. Milei, who had described Francisco as "representative of the Evil One on Earth" before arriving at the Presidency, took a big turn when arriving at the Casa Rosada and has put in charge of the preparations for the visit the person he most trusts, his sister and secretary of the Presidency Karina Milei.

The final leg of the tour will be Peru, the country that American-born Robert Prevost adopted as his own and where he was a missionary and bishop. He will stay there for six days, the longest stopover, and has numerous activities planned that will allow him to reconnect with his people.