Pope Leo urges universal health care in Uruguay

Pope Leo XIV opened his trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru with a call for universal access to health care, saying illness and poverty should not deprive anyone of dignity or needed treatment. Drawing on his own recent experience of illness, he urged society to support people facing disability, exclusion, loneliness and other hardships. He also spoke about protecting life from conception to its natural end, addressing suicide and ensuring people are accompanied through suffering. At a cathedral service in Montevideo, Leo invited bishops worldwide to organize days of prayer and fasting for priestly vocations, following Uruguay’s response to a year with no new seminary candidates.