MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Pope Leo XIV on Friday defended universal healthcare after undergoing surgery for lung cancer as he began a 12-day tour of South America in 'fairly good shape.'Leo's sixth international tour takes him to the continent that helped shape his priesthood, just three weeks after being operated for a tumor on his right lung.The 71-year-old pontiff will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru on one of the most intense papal trips in decades, meeting political leaders, prisoners, the poor, as well as old friends.Thousands of people, some waving yellow-and-white Vatican flags, lined the seafront of Uruguay's capital Montevideo to greet him as he waved from a custom-made popemobile.But the crowds were relatively sparse in Latin America's most secular country compared with Leo's recent visits to France and Spain.Speaking in a half-empty Plaza Independencia, after being welcomed by left-wing President Yamandu Orsi, the pope lamented Uruguay's high suicide rates -- among the highest in the world -- and appealed for healthcare to be 'accessible to everyone.'He said the care he received after his lung cancer diagnosis made him think of the 'many men and women who lack the means to obtain a timely diagnosis' or receive treatment.In 'fairly good shape'On the plane carrying him across the Atlantic he told reporters he was 'in fairly good shape' following his surgery, and his advice for others facing their own cancer diagnosis was 'not to be afraid.'The pontiff said he was bringing a message of 'hope' to the world's most Catholic continent.Liberal Uruguay is at odds with the Catholic Church -- as well as Latin America's new crop of conservative leaders -- on issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia, which was legalized there last....