Pope Leo XIV began an emotionally charged tour of South America on Friday, returning to a continent that helped shape his priesthood just three weeks after undergoing lung cancer surgery. The 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru for 12 days in one of the most intense papal trips abroad in decades, to meet with political leaders, prisoners, the poor and old friends. “I’m very happy to be here,” Leo told reporters, including AFP, on the plane before landing in Uruguay, saying he wanted to bring a “message of hope to the world today.” Pope Leo embarks on a trip through Latin America with his first stop in Uruguay. To display this YouTube content, it is necessary to enable advertising tracking and audience measurement. OK Manage my options One of your browser extensions appears to be blocking the video player from loading. To view this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Try again Top image: Pope Leo embarks on a trip to Latin America with a first stop in Uruguay © agences The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics said he was “pretty well” after his surgery. “I know that some people had doubts about taking this trip,” he said, adding: “I had no doubts and I was convinced that this trip had to go ahead.” Doctors gave him the all-clear to travel and the Vatican said no special medical measures were necessary beyond standard care on papal trips. Read morePope Leo His vote by mail made history, as he was the first Pope to vote in a political election. “I am proud to be an American and to exercise the right” to vote, he said. The Pope has assumed both Peruvian and American citizenship, having spent almost two decades in Peru as a missionary and forming a deep bond with the continent. He referred to Peru as “one of my many homes” in his comments Friday and said he hoped to see “old things, new things and, most of all, the people” there. Leo begins his trip in Uruguay, the most secular country in Latin America – and one of the richest – where there is a strong security operation, with some 5,000 police officers and 1,000 soldiers mobilized. You will be driven along Montevideo’s seafront in a custom-made popemobile, before meeting left-wing President Yamandu Orsi and receiving the keys to the city. Cardinal Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo, told AFP that there is “widespread interest in the Pope’s visit that goes far beyond the confines of the Catholic Church,” and tickets for masses in Paysandú and Florida are selling out quickly. The liberal nation is at odds with the century-old institution on same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia – which was legalized last year – and Leo is expected to appeal to protect life as well as traditional family values. The Pope may also speak about mental health, particularly when visiting the Casavalle neighborhood in Montevideo, known for its high levels of poverty and extreme violence. ‘Symbolism and emotion’ He will travel on Sunday to Argentina, the homeland of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who disappointed many Argentines by not visiting again during his papacy. On Friday, the Pope said he was going to visit Argentina “with great joy,” adding that it was the country Francis “did not manage to go to.” Read morePope Leo embarks on emotional tour of South America weeks after surgery Leo’s trip is considered a kind of double homecoming, US-based Vatican expert Christopher White told AFP. “The first Latin American Pope in history, Francis, never returned to his homeland. Leo, a Peruvian citizen, now carries that mantle and legacy,” said White, author of a book about Pope Leo. The trip to South America culminates in Peru, and Leo’s arrival on Wednesday will be “a moment full of symbolism and emotion,” he said. The country has been affected by papal fever. In Lima, vendors sell T-shirts and rosaries with his image, while bakeries sell Leo bread. Inmates at a women’s prison are making dolls in their image. An imposing 14-meter (46-foot) statue of Leo has also been erected in the port city of Callao, which he will visit. The trip will take him to the ancient Inca capital of Cusco and the Amazon rainforest, but the pope will also revisit his former life as Robert Francis Prevost, from a dinner with priests from his former diocese of Chiclayo to a private visit to a chapel he helped rebuild. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)