Pope Leo XIV celebrates first South America Mass in Uruguay before estimated 40,000

Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Mass of a 12-day, three-nation tour of South America in Paysandú, Uruguay, on Saturday, before an estimated 40,000 people. The Vatican and local authorities in western Uruguay provided the attendance figure. The Mass took place at Parque París Londres, a sprawling green space on the southern edge of the city on the Uruguay River, some 375 kilometers (230 miles) west of the capital, Montevideo.

More than 30,000 people from Uruguay as well as neighboring Argentina and Brazil had registered in advance for the service. The Vatican said another 10,000 had shown up beyond that, despite morning rain and blustery, gray skies. Crowds of faithful in rain ponchos, many in the Vatican’s yellow, began streaming into the site when the gates opened at 5:30 a.m. as a band played popular Spanish hymns.

The crowd erupted in a chant of “Olé, olé, olé, olé, Pope, Pope!” when Leo’s plane landed in Paysandú, in western Uruguay on the border with Argentina. They cheered again, blew horns and waved yellow handkerchiefs when he arrived in his open-sided popemobile at the Mass site.

It was the first Mass of Leo’s tour that had been in doubt after the 71-year-old American pope underwent lung cancer surgery on October 13. Leo, who holds US, Peruvian and Vatican citizenship, arrived in Uruguay on Friday and had an intense afternoon and evening of events. He is seeking to raise interest in the Catholic Church in Uruguay, South America’s most secular country, as a remedy for helping the nation and its citizens cope with the troubles of the modern world. Uruguay has a population of 3.5 million.

In his homily, Leo urged the faithful to build bridges of faith and fraternity, recalling the nearby bridge over the Uruguay River that unites Uruguay and Argentina and over which many pilgrims travelled to attend the Mass. He also pointed to the ritual of drinking mate, the ubiquitous bitter herbal tea that Uruguayans and their neighbours carry everywhere, as a poignant symbol of unity and encounter that he suggested should be applied to spreading the faith today.

“It teaches us to share and to be together, strengthening the bonds that unite us as brothers and sisters,” Leo said, drawing a round of applause and a smile from the Pope.

“Faith, too, has been part of the life of the Uruguayan people since their earliest days, and it must be passed on to future generations with creative courage,” he said.

Saturday’s Mass was dedicated to Blessed Jacinto Vera, who was appointed Uruguay’s first bishop by Pope Leo XIII in 1878. On Friday, the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics spoke of Bishop Vera, noting that he had walked the countryside and helped the poor, adding that those whom he encountered “found something of Christ’s goodness” in him.

Leo will underscore the need for that kind of outreach on Saturday afternoon when he visits a Montevideo neighborhood beset by drug violence and in which the Church has invested in public housing and rehabilitation projects for addicts. At Pope Leo’s final event in the country — a prayer vigil in Montevideo’s Centenary Stadium that is expected to draw some 60,000 young faithful — the pontiff will call on young people to reject religious indifference and turn to Christ’s teachings.

On Sunday, Pope Leo will depart for Argentina, where he will meet with President Javier Milei. In Argentina, Leo will visit Buenos Aires, Luján and Córdoba before heading to Peru, his second homeland and the final destination of his tour.

Sources

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