Pope Leo XIV is to visit a Uruguayan neighbourhood ravaged by drug-gang gunfire just weeks after his lung cancer surgery

Pope Leo XIV, 71, is set to begin an 11-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru on November 6, his first major foreign trip since surgery on October 13 removed a cancerous growth from his lower lung lobe — with doctors clearing him despite his ongoing recovery.

Borro, his first stop in Montevideo, is a neighbourhood where residents throw themselves to the ground when machine-gun fire erupts and children cannot safely play outside.

The tour covers 19,000 miles across more than 12 flights and includes a high-altitude Andean prayer service and meetings with clerical abuse victims and Indigenous peoples.