More than 40,000 attend Pope Leo XIV's first Mass on his South America tour in Uruguay
Vatican and Uruguayan authorities estimated that about 40,000 people attended Pope Leo XIV’s first Mass of his 12-day, three-nation South America tour on Saturday morning in Paysandu, a city on the Uruguay River some 375 kilometers (230 miles) west of Montevideo. The Vatican said 30,000 people from Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil had registered, and roughly 10,000 more braved rain to join the service at Paris London Park. The 71-year-old US-born pontiff, who holds US, Peruvian and Vatican citizenship and had lung-cancer surgery on 13 October, was greeted by cheering crowds as he travelled from the local airport to the park.
The Mass was dedicated to Blessed Jacinto Vera, appointed Uruguay’s first bishop by Pope Leo XIII in 1878. On Friday, Leo, who leads the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, recalled that Vera had walked the countryside and helped the poor, and that those he met “found something of Christ’s goodness” in him. The visit aims to stir interest in the Church in Uruguay, South America’s most secular country, as a way to help people face modern troubles. Soledad Sanchez, who had travelled far to Paysandu, told AFP she had not been sure he could make it but that he had come to give a message of peace. An 18-year-old at the Mass said she would not call herself religious but liked the pope’s message for humanity, including non-believers.
On Saturday afternoon Leo was due to visit a Montevideo neighborhood hit by drug violence, where the Church has funded public housing and rehabilitation for addicts. His final event in Uruguay is a nighttime prayer vigil at Centenary Stadium expected to draw some 60,000 young people, at which he will urge them to reject religious indifference and turn to Christ’s teachings. On Sunday he leaves for Argentina to meet President Javier Milei, a libertarian-populist and close ally of US President Donald Trump, who had previously criticized the pope over calls to end wars and harsh immigration policies.
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