Author: ISABEL DE BRE | NICOLE WINFIELD
Thousands of people poured into a city on the Uruguay River on Saturday for Pope Leo XIV’s first Mass in South America, as the pontiff sought to raise the profile of the Catholic Church in Uruguay, the region’s most secular country. More than 30,000 people — many from Uruguay but also from neighbouring Argentina and Brazil — had registered to attend the Mass in the Parque Paris Londres, a sprawling green space on the southern edge of Paysandu — a city that no pope has ever visited before. Paysandu, around 375 kilometres from the capital, Montevideo, was hosting Leo’s first Mass at the start of his three-nation South American tour.
Crowds of faithful in rain ponchos, many in the Vatican’s yellow, began streaming in when the gates opened at 5:30 am as a band played popular Spanish hymns. Some in the crowd said they were deeply moved that Leo pressed on with his ambitious 12-day tour despite his recent cancer diagnosis. “He’s the representative of Christ but he’s human. And we weren’t sure if he could make it, but he pushed through for us,” said Soledad Sanchez, 73, who had driven to Paysandu from northern Uruguay, her eyes filling with tears.