At Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario, a father waited happily to welcome Pope Leo XIV to his city and country. He did not consider himself Catholic, he told me, but his wife was. As the popemobile made its way through the crowds, their one and a half year old daughter was among the children lifted up for the Pope’s blessing.
It was a family encounter within a much larger gathering, bringing Pope Leo’s second day in Uruguay to a close. After Mass in Paysandú, a visit to Casavalle and a meeting with the education community, the day ended here, with testimonies, prayer and an invitation to carry the joy of faith home.
A place in the stadium
“To shed much light, we do not need to be many, but rather to reflect the Lord’s light,” Pope Leo told those gathered.
In a country where Catholics have long lived alongside a deeply rooted secular tradition, the welcome extended beyond those who regularly attend church. The father’s pleasure at being there, alongside his wife and daughter, was one small expression of that.
The Pope thanked the families, young people, priests and religious whose quiet commitment sustains the Church between such occasions. He encouraged all those present never to confuse smallness with insignificance.
His invitation was practical: to forgive, to serve, to choose honesty even when it costs, and to allow others to discover Christ through those choices.
“Christ did not call us to mediocrity; he called us to a new and full life like his own.”
Earlier in Casavalle, words of encouragement had come from the crowd itself. As a young mother, Katerina Silva, described the violence that had nearly cost her life, people called out their support. Her account of finding welcome and patient care through the Church brought listeners to tears.
At Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, Pope Leo visited newly built homes for families with limited means. Here, the day’s encounters unfolded against the realities of poverty and insecurity, but also the strength of a community accompanying its neighbours.
“We cannot turn a blind eye” to children afraid to go to school because they might never return home, he said, calling for the Church, civil society and the State to work together.