Leo XIV faces Nov. 6–17 trip doubts after cancer diagnosis

Pope Leo XIV faces uncertainty over a Nov. 6-17 Latin America trip after a cancer diagnosis, El País reported in an Oct. 15 article, 17 months after his election.

The Vatican is weighing a 14-flight itinerary with more than 40 planned speeches against possible chemotherapy or radiotherapy, while the pope’s public schedule is suspended through Oct. 20, the report said.

An unnamed prelate told El País the Roman Curia, the central administration of the Catholic Church, is reassessing its assumptions. “We thought we had a pope for 20 years and now it’s no longer clear; this changes everything in the Curia, all the dynamics,” the prelate said.

Atlas360 reported on Oct. 14 that Leo XIV had been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, a cancer that begins in gland-forming tissue, after surgery to remove a lobe of his right lung. El País said the exact extent of the illness and treatment plan remain unclear pending tumor-analysis results expected in 10 to 14 days.

The planned trip covers Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. El País said one stop would be Cuzco, in Peru, at more than 3,300 meters above sea level, where altitude can add respiratory strain.

Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo, told Telemundo that “it is possible that doctors will not allow him to come now because he may need to undergo treatment, but that he could travel later,” according to El País. Peru’s President Keiko Fujimori said the visit dates could change and that the pope’s recovery may “take longer than expected,” the article said.

The physical demands are sharper than those of a routine recovery period. El País said the surgery had been scheduled with at least a three-week buffer before air travel, compared with the one-week recovery plan Atlas360 reported before the operation.

The diagnosis introduces an early test for a pontificate that began in May 2025. El País said Leo XIV, 71, had been seen as physically fit and likely to govern over a long horizon, unlike recent periods when papal illness shaped the final years of John Paul II, parts of Benedict XVI’s tenure and the end of Francis’s pontificate.

The article said a pope undergoing demanding treatment would probably need to reduce work and public appearances, increasing the role of his closest advisers. It also said severe debilitation could revive discussion of resignation, after Benedict XVI stepped down in February 2013, though no such decision has been reported.

Recent Vatican appointments may draw closer scrutiny in that context. El País said Leo XIV named Filipino cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, considered papabile, meaning a plausible future pope, at the last conclave, as dean of the College of Cardinals on Friday.

The same report said Leo XIV appointed Italian Franciscan archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola as vicar general for Vatican City on Saturday. Both roles have importance during a sede vacante, the period when there is no pope, according to El País.

Dates that decide schedule

• Oct. 20: Leo XIV’s current schedule suspension is due to end, according to El País, offering the first check on whether public activity resumes.

• Oct. 23-27: El País said tumor-analysis results are expected in this window, with the findings set to shape any chemotherapy or radiotherapy decision.

• Nov. 6: The Latin America trip is scheduled to begin, unless doctors or the Vatican alter the Uruguay, Argentina and Peru itinerary.