Pope Leo urges universal health care in Uruguay

Pope Leo XIV began a 12-day Latin American tour in Uruguay before traveling to Argentina; it is his longest tour as pope and comes weeks after lung cancer surgery. In Uruguay, drawing on his recent illness, he urged universal access to health care and support for vulnerable people, and spoke about protecting life from conception to its natural end, addressing suicide and accompanying people through suffering. At a cathedral service in Montevideo, he urged bishops worldwide to organize days of prayer and fasting for priestly vocations, after Uruguay had a year with no new seminary candidates. In Buenos Aires, an estimated 2.5 million people attended a public Mass—the largest crowd of Leo’s papacy—where he called for unity, emphasized family and faith, and paid tribute to Pope Francis. Leo is the first American pope to visit Argentina and the first pontiff to visit Uruguay in nearly four decades. The Argentina visit was politically sensitive because Leo has criticized economic policies pursued by President Javier Milei, whom he met during the trip.