Leo XIV's trip to Latin America aims to overcome social polarization and promote reconciliation, says Vatican

This Friday (6), Leo XIV leaves the Vatican for Latin America. At the headquarters of the Catholic Church, what is felt is that the long trip arouses apprehension about the pope's physical resistance and the political meetings that await him. The first has impressive numbers. Leo XIV, at 71 years old, will travel 31 thousand km, face twelve flights, two helicopter trips and more than 50 commitments.

In the Peruvian Andes, it will reach almost 3,400 meters in altitude. All this less than a month after surgery that removed a lobe of the right lung, affected by a malignant tumor. The Vatican claims that the tennis pope is in a position to take to the world the message of a Church that, starting with Francis, has once again spoken about a preferential option for the poor. A vision that does not always find echo among government officials.

In Argentina, he will meet Javier Milei, who insulted Francisco, accused him of being a communist, and then reconciled. But the Church still criticizes the effects of the Milei government's austerity on the most vulnerable. Among Argentines, expectation and longing mix. Francis never returned to his country in the 12 years of his pontificate. It will be Leo XIV who makes the long-awaited visit of Pope Bergoglio.

First, however, it will face the most secularized nation in Latin America. In Uruguay, only one in three inhabitants declares themselves Catholic. Since 1919, Christmas has been officially called Family Day and Holy Week, Tourism Week. Some parliamentarians wanted to light up Congress with the colors of the Vatican. Proposal contested on behalf of the secular State.

Finally, Peru. For Leo XIV, it's coming home. He lived there for more than 20 years. In Chiclayo, where he was bishop, he will reunite with the community he greeted the night he was elected pope. It will also return the Fujimori family to power. President Keiko is the daughter of Alberto Fujimori. In the 1990s, according to biographers, Robert Prevost supported mobilizations against the Fujimori regime's human rights violations.

Collections within the Church itself are foreseen in Peru. Victims of abuse by the Sodalício de Vida Cristiano, a group dissolved by the Vatican, are still asking for justice. In Argentina, an organization of victims of sexual abuse denied a meeting with Pope Leo and denounced the Church's cover-up of the crimes.

Leo XIV leaves as head of a tiny state, but with influence that goes far beyond the Vatican. In Latin America, increasingly distant from religious traditions, he will try to show the power of his voice.