President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed Thursday that Pope Leo XIV's first tour of Latin America will bypass Mexico, a day after Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with her at the National Palace and walked her through the itinerary himself. Sheinbaum told reporters at her morning briefing that the pope's trip, running Nov. 6–17, will take him through Uruguay, Argentina and Peru — and that Mexico's invitation, while still on the table, didn't make this round.
Ten Cities, Three Countries, Zero Stops in Mexico
The trip will be Leo's sixth international journey since taking office, and easily his longest: ten cities across eleven nights. He opens in Uruguay from Nov. 6–8 with stops in Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida, moves into Argentina from Nov. 8–11 for Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján, then closes in Peru from Nov. 11–17 across Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa, according to the Vatican's own schedule. Neither Uruguay nor Argentina has hosted a pope since John Paul II passed through in the late 1980s — Argentina in 1987, Uruguay a year later. Peru is different territory for Leo: he spent decades there as a missionary before becoming bishop of Chiclayo and taking Peruvian citizenship, and the country last saw a pope when Francis visited in 2018.
Sheinbaum told reporters Parolin's explanation was straightforward: the pope picked Peru, Argentina and Uruguay because Francis never reached them as pope, with Leo adding his personal attachment to Peru on top. That logic holds for Argentina, Francis's homeland, which he never visited in twelve years as pope, and for Uruguay, untouched by a papal trip since 1988. It doesn't hold for Peru: CNN and multiple other outlets confirm Francis spent four days there in January 2018, traveling on from a stop in Chile. The gap between what Sheinbaum says she was told and the documented travel record is worth flagging for readers — it doesn't change Mexico's absence from the itinerary, but it does undercut the stated rationale.
A Year-Plus Campaign for an Invitation
Mexico's push for a papal visit didn't start this week. Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez personally handed Leo a written invitation from Sheinbaum during his inaugural Mass in May 2025. Sheinbaum raised it again by phone with the pope on Dec. 12 — the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe — and pressed the case a third time this week with Parolin, in a meeting that ran just over an hour. "We're going to insist on the pope's visit to Mexico," she told reporters Wednesday. Beyond the religious significance, Sheinbaum has framed a Leo visit as a chance to engage on artificial intelligence regulation, pointing to his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, and said AI came up in her conversation with Parolin as well.
When Might Mexico Actually Get Its Turn?
Sheinbaum has suggested a visit isn't realistic before Mexico's 2027 midterm election season gets underway, arguing a papal trip during a campaign period would be politically awkward. Bishop Ramón Castro Castro, president of the Mexican bishops' conference, offered a different read after dining with Parolin on Thursday: he noted that pastoral visits now take as little as four or five months to organize under Leo — floating December as a real possibility and suggesting a shorter runway than Sheinbaum implied. Neither side has set a date, and the Vatican has made clear any Mexico trip would require its own separate announcement.
Why It Lands Differently for Mexican-American Catholics
For LatinTimes readers, the exclusion carries weight beyond scheduling logistics. Mexico is home to the world's second-largest Catholic population after Brazil, and that identity runs just as deep north of the border: people of Mexican origin make up roughly 40 million people, or 57% of the U.S. Hispanic population — by far the largest Latino-origin group in the country, and the one with the deepest generational ties to devotions like Guadalupe that Leo has personally invoked.
Pew polling from June found 66% of Mexican Catholics view Leo favorably, with 18% unfavorable — trailing Peru's 79% favorable rating, though Chile (55% favorable) and Argentina (55%) actually scored lower still. A pope born in the United States choosing Lima, Buenos Aires and Montevideo before Mexico City is a decision Mexican-American clergy and parishioners are likely to have opinions about — an angle worth pursuing directly with dioceses in Chicago, Los Angeles and Texas that serve large Mexican-origin communities.
