Pope Leo XIV champions universal healthcare during speech in Uruguay weeks after lung cancer surgery

Montevideo – Pope Leo XIV drew on his own recent experience of illness and hospitalization after surgery for lung cancer on Friday to make an impassioned appeal for universal access to healthcare, greater social equality and a society that does not measure people’s worth by their productivity or wealth.

“Recently I experienced firsthand the limitations imposed by illness and I received care for which I am grateful,” the Pope said in his first speech after arriving in Uruguay, to the country’s political and civic leaders. 

Pope Leo XIV was released from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital four days after removing a cancerous tumor from his right lung.  “The experience made me think of the many men and women who lack the means to obtain a timely diagnosis or receive the treatment they need.”

“Ensuring that healthcare is accessible to everyone, regardless of their resources, is a duty that confronts every society,” he said.

Uruguay is the first stop of a 12-day trip that also includes Argentina and Peru. Leo’s doctors said he needed no further treatment after his operation and was cleared to travel. The trip schedule is the longest international journey of his pontificate so far, with 19,000 travel miles, 14 flights, 36 speeches and approximately 50 events. 

Vatican officials told reporters ahead of the trip that the Pope would have a medical team travel with him, as is customary on papal trips, but that no special measures were being taken. “We’re speaking of a 71-year-old person in good health,” the Vatican spokesman said.

The Latin America journey is Leo’s first return as Pope to the country and region that has profoundly shaped his vision, and where he spent decades of his life, first as an Augustinian missionary, and then as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. The pope holds U.S. and Peruvian citizenship. 

Leo’s remarks on caring for the sick were part of a broad appeal for a society where the most vulnerable are protected, and where economic development benefits everyone rather than just the elite.     

“The creation of wealth and economic initiative…must also translate into goods and opportunities that effectively reach everyone,” Leo said. 

While praising Uruguay for four decades of uninterrupted democracy, he stressed that a country’s success is ultimately measured by how it protects human dignity and cares for the most vulnerable in society.

Leo also spoke in defense of children, including the unborn. Abortion was legalized in Uruguay in 2012, making it one of the first Latin American countries to do so.

“Their absolute dependence on their mother does not diminish the dignity to which they are entitled or the protection they deserve,” the pope said. 

Children, he said, must have access to quality education and opportunities to enter the workforce and achieve personal independence.  Touching on a subject close to his heart, he said that technological advances and artificial intelligence must serve human beings rather than replace workers. 

Leo will remain in Uruguay until Sunday when he will continue his travels to Argentina and Peru. The Vatican spokesman said there, Leo would address a range of issues, including the environment, arms tracking and political instability.  

The Pope will also hold meetings with survivors of clerical sex abuse, but no further details are available as of now.