00:00Pope Leo XIV is kicking off a three-nation tour of Latin America with a visit to Uruguay,
00:07the region's most secular country, three weeks after undergoing lung cancer surgery
00:12that had put the entire trip into question.
00:15The Uruguay leg is the first stop on what will be the longest and farthest trip of his pontificate.
00:21According to media reports, Pope Leo is expected to recall the church's opposition to abortion
00:27and euthanasia as part of his broader argument about upholding human dignity in all phases of life.
00:35Home to some 40% of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics,
00:39Uruguay is considered the most secular country in the region
00:43where only a fraction of people who identify as Catholic actually go to mass regularly.
00:49Church officials in Uruguay have marveled at their parents' enthusiasm the visitors provoked
00:55with reports that tickets to Leo's prior vigil at Montevideo's Centenario Stadium were snapped up after two days.
01:03The trip will also bring Pope Leo to neighbouring Argentina and finally back home to Peru
01:08where the Pope served as a missionary priest and bishop for two decades.
01:13We'll be right back home to the next few weeks.
01:14We'll be right back home to the next few weeks.
