Pope Leo XIV wrapped up his visit to Uruguay yesterday by marking an important Catholic feast day tied to the country’s independence, capping his effort to draw attention to the Church’s role in founding Latin America’s most secular country. Source: Crux.
Pope Leo travelled to the city of Florida, north of Montevideo, before heading to Argentina for the second leg of his three-nation tour of South America. It’s expected to be the most politically delicate, given the Church’s sharp criticisms of the austerity program of libertarian President Javier Milei.
For his final event in Uruguay, Pope Leo was commemorating the feast of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three. Every year, thousands of pilgrims flock to Florida on the second Sunday in November to pray before the small wooden icon of the Virgin Mary housed there.
According to tradition, 33 independence patriots acquired the Guaraní statue and had it with them when independence was declared from the Brazilian Empire in Florida on August 25, 1825.
Pope Leo became the first pope in nearly four decades to visit Uruguay, in hopes of reminding its people that the Church is part of their very identity as a nation – even if in subsequent decades the country went on a deeply secular, and at times anticlerical, route.
Thousands of people poured into Florida’s main square on Sunday ahead of the Mass under brilliant blue skies, some walking for several kilometres to reach the site.
Pope Leo was hoping to leave a parting message before opening the second leg of his South American trip, which he went ahead with despite having undergone surgery on October 13 to remove a cancerous tumour from his lung. The final stop is in Peru, his second homeland.
Pope Leo, 71, has appeared in fine form at his events, singing loudly, bounding up stairs and gamely greeting the crowds in his popemobile. He has not cut any events short, including those that have kept him out until past midnight Rome time.
“This visit will also serve to reinforce the image of Leo as a leader, not merely in a spiritual sense, but in a much broader capacity as a political leader and a widely recognised figure who, far from shying away from conflict or tension, offers a powerful perspective and commands a highly respected voice,” Luis Bahamondes, a professor at the Centre for Judaic Studies at the University of Chile, said.
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Pope wraps up Uruguay visit and heads to most fraught stop of his tour in Milei’s Argentina (By Nicole Winfield, Nayara Batschke, and Isabel Debre, AP via Crux)
