Under a sea of waving arms and shouted prayers, Pope Leo XIV closed out his Argentina visit by drawing an immense crowd to the nation’s most revered shrine before continuing on to Peru, where he spent nearly two decades as a missionary.
Authorities said more than three million people jammed the streets around the Basilica of Lujan, with some scaling fences, barriers, trees and lampposts in a bid to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.
“Thank you Leo!” the crowd chanted for the 71-year-old pope, who is in the midst of a 12-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru less than a month after surgery for lung cancer.
The Lujan stop became the emotional high point of Leo’s first trip to Argentina, a country that his predecessor Francis never managed to revisit after becoming pope.
“Thank you, Argentina, for welcoming me with open arms,” Leo told the throng as he offered his farewell, addressing the largest gathering he attracted during his time in the country.
Over the course of the Argentina leg, Pope Leo repeatedly pressed for a more inclusive economy and stronger safeguards for the vulnerable — remarks widely seen as a rebuke of President Javier Milei and his aid-cutting policies.
On Wednesday, the pontiff stressed that “there is room for everyone, especially the neediest: the poor and hungry, migrants, the sick and prisoners”.
He appeared in a white-and-sky-blue robe linked to the Virgin of Lujan, a choice that echoed the colors of the Argentine flag.
Signs of the country’s social and political strains surfaced in the crowd, where one group held aloft a banner that read: “Land, housing and work for the people”.
Pope Leo said mass outside the Basilica of Lujan
Pilgrim Estela Adorno, 76, said the pope’s words struck a chord in a nation wrestling with deep political and economic rifts.
“Everything that helps society is welcome. People were deeply moved, I was deeply moved. With everything that is happening in the country, it will always be welcome,” she said.
Flourishing
As pilgrims poured into Lujan in the spring sunshine, volunteers moved through the packed crowd handing out water.
Inside the basilica, members of the choir said taking part in the mass felt like a rare honor.
“It is a unique opportunity, full of emotion. From the moment we were told we would participate, through preparing the repertoire and these final days of rehearsals, there has been so much shared excitement,” said choir member Nora Jauregui, a 61-year-old retired music teacher.
Some of the crowd gathered for today’s mass in Lujan
Earlier in the day, Pope Leo traveled to Buenos Aires’ Devoto prison and encouraged inmates to treat their time in custody as a chance to reshape their futures.
“Human beings often flourish through limits rather than despite them,” he told about 75 inmates and family members assembled in the prison gymnasium.
He also spoke to the weight of incarceration, saying he could picture sleepless nights and the thoughts of loved ones — or of people the prisoners may have hurt.
The US-born pope chose not to postpone the South America trip even after surgeons removed the lower portion of his right lung to extract a cancerous tumor.
His journey now continues in Peru, where he is scheduled to visit the Amazon, the Andean city of Cuzco at 3,400 meters above sea level, and the northern city of Chiclayo, where he served a decade as bishop.
