Pope Leo XIV wrapped up his visit to Uruguay on Sunday by praising the women who have passed the Catholic faith on to younger generations, as he highlighted the role the church has played since the founding of Latin America’s most secular country.
The pope travelled to the city of Florida, north of Montevideo, to mark an important Catholic feast day before heading to Argentina for the second leg of his South American tour. It is expected to be the most politically delicate stop, given the Catholic Church’s sharp criticisms of the austerity programme of libertarian President Javier Milei.
For his final event in Uruguay, Leo celebrated the feast of the Virgin of the Thirty-three. According to tradition, 33 independence patriots acquired the Guarani statue and had it with them when independence was declared from the Brazilian empire in Florida on August 25, 1825.