Pope Leo XIV delivers a speech during an event at the Aula Magna of the Catholic University of Uruguay in Montevideo. (AFP pic)MONTEVIDEO: Pope Leo XIV on Saturday slammed the deaths of children in areas of wealthy Uruguay gripped by drug violence and urged young people to "dare" to get married, on the second day of his South American tour.
Just three weeks after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, the 71-year-old pontiff is on a 12-day tour of the continent where he served nearly two decades as a missionary.
On Saturday, he visited the crime-blighted Montevideo neighborhood of Casavalle.
The murder rate in the impoverished district is four times the national average and residents spoke movingly of the dangers they faced, like commonplace gun violence.
