Overview

• Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi said the pope expressed a plan to travel to the Río de la Plata in 2026, with stops that could include Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
• Orsi framed the idea as reviving a visit Pope Francis had hoped to make to the region but never carried out.
• The Vatican has not issued a program for a 2026 South America trip, making Orsi’s account the primary source for the pope’s intentions.
• During their Vatican meeting, Orsi and León XIV discussed Uruguay’s newly approved euthanasia law, with both acknowledging differing positions in what Orsi described as an open exchange.
• Orsi also met Cardinal Pietro Parolin to talk about education, Church-linked schools, human rights, and the Church’s role after Uruguay’s dictatorship, while the Holy See confirmed a Nov. 27–Dec. 2 trip to Turkey and Lebanon as León XIV’s first foreign journey.