Pope Leo XIV plans to travel to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to 17, 2026, on his first visit to Latin America since becoming pontiff. The Vatican announced the three-country journey on August 5, setting out its dates and principal destinations while leaving a detailed programme for a later release.
The trip will begin in Uruguay, where Leo is scheduled to stay from November 6 through November 8. His announced stops there are Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida. He will then travel to Argentina for a visit running from November 8 to November 11, with Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján included in the plans.
Peru will form the longest section of the tour. Leo is due to be in the country from November 11 until November 17 and is expected to visit Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa. Across the three countries, the announced route therefore encompasses 10 cities over 12 days.
A return to a central part of Leo’s ministry
The Peruvian leg carries particular personal and institutional significance because Leo spent decades in the country as a missionary and church leader. He served as bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023 and holds Peruvian citizenship. His planned return to Chiclayo will take him back to the diocese he led before his election as pope and is expected to be a prominent moment in the journey.
Leo is the first pope born in the United States. His background in Peru gives the tour a direct connection to his earlier ministry as well as to his present role. The announced itinerary combines national capitals with regional religious centres and communities outside the capitals, although the Vatican had not yet provided the sequence of events, ceremonies or meetings within each city.
Argentina adds a separate connection to the recent history of the papacy. It was the homeland of Leo’s predecessor, the late Pope Francis, who was the first Latin American pope. Despite receiving repeated invitations, Francis did not return to Argentina during his 12 years as pontiff. Leo’s planned stops in Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján will consequently bring the papacy to the country during the early period of his own pontificate.
The November tour is part of an increasingly active travel calendar for Leo. Before travelling to Latin America, he is scheduled to visit France from September 25 to September 28. That journey will be his first visit to France as pope.
The Vatican’s August 5 announcement established the Latin American trip’s overall framework rather than a complete itinerary. It identified the three national stages, their respective dates and the cities Leo intends to visit. Further details were to follow, but the information already released confirmed that Peru—where Leo lived, worked and led the Chiclayo diocese—would receive half of the journey’s scheduled days.
