Pope Leo celebrated Mass with 2.5 million people in heart of Buenos Aires
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass with 2.5 million people in the heart of Buenos Aires on Nov. 9, drawing the largest crowd of his pontificate so far.
“Dear families, I encourage you to take a leading role in evangelization! The Church in Argentina needs you,” the pope said in his homily at the iconic Buenos Aires intersection at the “Monumento de los Españoles.”
“This Church is renewed and filled with enthusiasm when families, animated by faith, pray together and live out their ministry of proclaiming the Good News,” he added.
The crowd stretched for miles down several of Buenos Aires’ wide avenues intersecting at the monument with Argentines wearing hats and sunglasses under the bright sun and enthusiastically waving Vatican and Argentine flags as the popemobile passed by.
In his homily, Pope Leo underlined the importance of the Christian family in society.
“The family is the place where faith, human virtues, a culture of work, respect for the elderly, the defense of life and fidelity to one’s word are handed on. Do not give in to those who dismiss the Christian family as outdated. On the contrary, today more than ever, it remains a pillar amid the many insecurities of our time,” the pope said.
“Open the doors of your homes to Christ!” he added. “Speak naturally to your children about Jesus, and remain united to Him.”
The pope recommended simple gestures to pass on the faith in the intimacy of one’s home, “a blessing before meals, a prayer before going to bed, forgiveness and mutual listening, grandparents teaching their grandchildren to pray, going to Mass on Sundays and preparing for a retreat or a pilgrimage.”
“The family is a privileged place for coming to know and encounter Christ,” he added.
Pope Leo also paid tribute to his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, in a moment that was met by enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
The pope began the day with a visit to a disability care home in Buenos Aires, the Don Orione “Little Cottolengo” in Claypole, known as “Pequeño Cottolengo Argentino Don Orione,” south of Buenos Aires.
On Nov. 9, the pope met privately with five people who suffered abuse by clergy or Church institutions in Argentina. During the meeting that lasted more than an hour, he listened individually to each who described their experiences.
Pope celebrates Mass in first FIFA World Cup stadium
The stadium built for the first-ever FIFA World Cup in Uruguay was filled with cheers on Saturday night, not for a soccer match, but for Pope Leo, who told the 70,000 people inside that becoming a saint is the ultimate goal.
“Be saints!” the pope told the joyful crowd on Nov. 7 in Montevideo’s historic Centenary Stadium, which was built in 1930 to host matches for the first FIFA World Cup. “Do not settle for a merely decent life or for a habitual faith, content with doing only the essential. Do not give God only a part of yourselves — give yourselves completely!”
In a country where soccer is sometimes treated as a religion, the pope urged people not to settle for a mediocre life, but to discover a full and free life in Jesus Christ.
“Saints are men and women who overflow with the abundance of life in Christ,” he said. “They are free and authentic people whose lives make it attractive to say a resounding ‘yes’ to love, truth and happiness. Do not be afraid, then, to aspire to holiness. Christ did not call us to mediocrity; He called us to a new and full life like His own.”
‘Never tire of passing on the faith!’
Pope Leo made a pilgrimage to Uruguay’s national Marian shrine Nov. 8, where he shared a message of hope for mothers who feel the grief of seeing their children fall away from practicing the faith they were raised in.
“I know that many of you carry a very specific sorrow. You taught your children to pray, and today they no longer do so. You used to attend Mass together, and it has been years since they entered a church. You spoke to your grandchildren about God, and now you do not know if those words left a mark. Sometimes you wonder if you did something wrong or if it was all futile,” Pope Leo said in his homily.
The pope pointed to the witness of St. Monica, who “prayed for years for a son who seemed to be drifting further and further from God, but she never stopped trusting in His grace.”
“Mothers and grandmothers: Never tire of passing on the faith! Preach with your lives as well as with your words. Insist on prayer, love and hope; insist on them in season and out of season (cf. 2 Timothy 4:2). Do so with patience, without harshness or discouragement. Even if your loved ones seem far from God, continue to place them before him. Do not stop blessing them, accompanying them and simply reminding them of what they once received,” Pope Leo said.
“There are doors that you cannot open, but God can,” he added.
In his homily, the pontiff also offered words of encouragement to fathers and grandfathers, urging them to imitate St. Joseph.
