Still-recovering pope will head home to Latin America and his beloved Peru for a 12-day trip

Pope Leo XIV is set to begin a 12-day, three-nation tour of Latin America—his longest and farthest trip—starting Friday. The tour comes three weeks after lung cancer surgery on Oct. 13, when doctors removed a cancerous tumor from his lung and said no further treatment was needed. The Vatican says no special or additional medical provisions are planned, including for a visit to Cusco at an altitude of 3,400 meters (11,200 feet). The pope, U.S.-born but holding Peruvian citizenship, will return to Peru, where he lived as a missionary priest for two decades. He will also visit Uruguay first and then Argentina, the home of his predecessor Pope Francis. Issues expected to be raised include economic injustice, Indigenous peoples and the Amazon, and the church’s legacy of clergy sexual abuse.