The pontiff’s speech referred to his own recent cancer surgery.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Pope Leo XIV on Friday opened his first visit to South America as pope with a call to protect life from its beginning in the womb until its natural end and to guarantee healthcare for all members of society.
The pope addressed Uruguay’s President Yamandú Orsi and other dignitaries in the country’s capital on the first day of an 11-day tour of the continent that will also take him to Argentina and Peru.
“The unborn already belong to the human family and to the future of their people. Their absolute dependence on their mother does not diminish the dignity to which they are entitled or the protection they deserve,” Leo said.
Though he did not directly mention euthanasia, which Uruguay legalized last year, the pope stressed the need to preserve life even in the midst of suffering.
“Given the painful reality of suicide, it is clear that adequate healthcare, family ties, and the closeness of the community are inseparable. None should ever feel like a stranger among their own or think that their absence matters less than their presence,” Leo said. “It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that each person can live with dignity, receive the care they need, and be accompanied until the natural end of his or her life.”
Euthanasia, the intentional ending of a human life in order to relieve suffering, is forbidden by Catholic teaching.
The pope referred to his recent surgery for lung cancer, less than a month before his trip to South America, in his call for universal healthcare.
“Recently I experienced firsthand the limitations imposed by illness and I received care for which I am deeply grateful. That experience makes me think of the many men and women who lack the means to obtain a timely diagnosis or receive the treatments they need. Ensuring that healthcare is accessible to everyone, regardless of their resources, is a duty that confronts every society,” Leo said.
Uruguay is exceptional among Latin American countries for the extent of its state-provided social services. It is also one of the most secular countries in the region, where more than half the population does not identify with organized religion and the official state calendar refers to Holy Week as Tourism Week.
Echoing remarks he made in September in France, whose model of secularism has historically influenced Uruguay, Leo called for religious believers and institutions to take part in public life.
“The secular character of the state involves an obligation to ensure that there is room for believers and nonbelievers to live together in freedom and respect. This neutrality does not require that the religious dimension be confined to the private sphere,” the pope said. “Individuals and religious communities can contribute to the common good while respecting the autonomy of civil institutions.”
Leo also took up the theme of Uruguay’s secularism in his second and final speech of the day, a homily at a vespers service in the city’s cathedral with bishops, clergy, religious, and seminarians. The pope said the example of a Christian minority was especially important in evangelizing the society around them.
“One of the secrets of evangelization is to resemble the One whom we proclaim. In this land, where many of our contemporaries barely know Jesus Christ and so many young people have grown up far from the life of the Church, that witness has a special power. May the way we look at others, the way we listen, or the way we reach out to those who suffer prompt them to ask about the origins of that love. When we speak to them of Jesus, may they discover the very Lord whose goodness they have begun to experience, despite our own poverty,” the pope said.
Follow the LIVE UPDATES from EWTN News in English for special coverage during Pope Leo’s Apostolic Trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
This story was updated at 6:42 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2026, with his speech at vespers.
This article was originally published by EWTN News English.
