Vast crowds thronged one of the main boulevards in Buenos Aires on Monday as Pope Leo rejoiced at the strength of the Catholic Church in South America during an outdoor Mass that officials said drew a record crowd of 2.5 million people on the first papal trip to Argentina in nearly four decades.
People stretched for miles down the Avenida del Libertador, waving the white-and-yellow Vatican flag and pressing against security barriers for a glimpse of the pontiff at the largest event yet of the pope’s 12-day South American tour, and of his 18-month tenure leading the global Catholic Church.
The pope was driven by in an open-top Popemobile under sunny skies.
Leo said in his sermon how happy he was to see Catholics in a region that has long been a stronghold for the church but where it has been losing ground recently to fast-growing evangelical denominations.
“It fills my heart with joy to celebrate ... with you,” said the pope. “My visit to this land of Argentina has allowed me to see on your faces the enthusiasm of your faith.”
The pope (71), is on an ambitious 50-event, three-country tour less than a month after undergoing lung cancer surgery. He visited Uruguay before arriving in Argentina on Sunday and will travel on to Peru on Wednesday before returning to Rome on November 17th.
The first US-born pope spent decades as a missionary in Peru and the Vatican has described the tour, one of the most demanding foreign tours by a pope in decades, as a “homecoming”.
People had gathered in the early hours of Monday ahead of the Mass. Some normally bustling parts of the city stood near-empty as police cordoned off a security zone.
Vendors along the pilgrims’ route were selling souvenirs of the visit, including flags featuring the pope’s face.
“I love that [Leo] is visiting us,” said Claudia Pardo (37), who waited for Leo with her husband and two young children. “It’s a unique, historic moment, and we should listen to his message.”
Alejandra Frias (56), was sleepless after camping out all night to get a front-row view of the pope. “This is an emotional and spiritual moment,” she said.
A pope has not visited majority-Catholic Argentina since 1987.
Leo has emerged as a forceful voice on the world stage, lamenting what he sees as a failure of global leadership. On his tour he has urged South American nations to set an example of regional co-operation and patient diplomacy instead of conflict.
On Sunday, the pope addressed Argentina’s president Javier Milei, a libertarian seen as a close ally of US president Donald Trump. He urged Milei, who has pushed an austerity agenda that the church has strongly criticised for cutting social services, to not target Argentina’s poorest.
He also told Milei, a theatrical figure known for bombastic statements, that leaders should be careful with their words and know the limits of their power.
The pope lamented the difficulties faced by Argentinian families at the Mass on Monday. He said they are enduring “instability, social hardship, precarious employment, domestic violence, painful separations and addictions that destroy young people’s futures and damage family relationships.”
Ahead of Monday’s Mass, Leo visited a care centre for people with disabilities on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, where thousands had also gathered in hope of seeing him.
Jorge Silanes, religious director of the Pequeno Cottolengo Don Orione centre that welcomed Leo, said the visit carried added significance because Milei’s spending cuts have reduced disability benefits while poverty remains widespread.
Leo said in remarks that centres such as theirs “have much to say to our societies, which are often driven solely by the pursuit of economic success”.
“A nation’s progress is also measured by how it welcomes all people with disabilities and particular needs,” said the pope.
The pope later met five victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Buenos Aires, the Vatican said, in the first of several expected meetings with survivors during the pontiff’s 12-day trip to South America.
He has met survivors during several of his foreign visits, in an effort to help repair the church’s standing after abuse scandals have tarnished its reputation.
The meeting on Monday lasted more than an hour, the Vatican said, with Leo listening to the survivors’ testimonies and reaffirming his commitment to strengthen the church’s safeguarding efforts.
“The pope spoke individually with each of them, listening to their words, their painful personal stories and their proposals for strengthening paths of healing within the church,” said a statement.
“To them, and through them to the other victims whom it was not possible to meet, the pope expressed his closeness and his desire to strengthen paths of protection, goodness, welcome and support within the church,” it said.
Abuse scandals have rocked the church throughout Latin America, a region that has long been a stronghold for the faith but where it has been losing ground recently to fast-growing evangelical denominations.
Ahead of Leo’s visit, some survivors called for stricter accountability measures from the church, including a global zero-tolerance policy for clergy with credible accusations of abuse.
Vatican officials have previously cited the difficulty of creating a single abuse-reporting law across all countries and argued that removing priests can put them beyond church supervision. – Reuters
Source: The Irish Times · Joshua McElwee, Leila Miller
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