Pope Leo XIV has encouraged the people of Uruguay to keep sowing seeds of faith, after spending three days in the country.
Uruguay was the Holy Father’s first visit on a 12-day Apostolic Journey across South America and during Sunday Mass in the square in front of the Cathedral Basilica of Florida, urged the country to continue to hope, particularly asking for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“From the earliest days of the nation’s founding, Uruguay has been intimately linked to a Mother,” Pope Leo XIV said.
“Since that time, generations have come and gone, circumstances have changed, including the relationship of many Uruguayans to the faith. Yet she has remained here. While Mary accompanied the history of this people, at the same time in so many homes other women preserved the faith and passed it on to their children.”
Compared to other South American countries, Uruguay is one of the most secularised and least Catholic countries. Like many other countries, the number of Catholics regularly attending Mass has been on the decline.
Pope Leo XIV encouraged the women in the Church who had fostered the faith in their children to keep the faith, even if they didn’t see the fruits of their prayers.
“Today I would like to thank all of those women. Thank you for having believed and for having kept open a path to God in so many families,” he said.
“Some were able to do so supported by a long-standing family tradition; others had to sustain that faith with greater effort, perhaps without always finding understanding or support within their own homes. I know that many of you carry a very specific sorrow. You taught your children to pray, and today they no longer do so. You used to attend Mass together, and it has been years since they entered a church. You spoke to your grandchildren about God, and now you do not know if those words left a mark. Sometimes you wonder if you did something wrong or if it was all futile.”
He encouraged them to turn to Saint Monica, whose unwavering prayers sowed the seeds of faith in her son, Saint Augustine.
“Therefore, do not consider what you have sown to be lost,” he said.
“The Lord himself taught us that the seed can grow without the sower knowing how.”
Pope Leo XIV landed in Uruguay on Friday afternoon and was officially welcomed to the country with a large ceremony, before celebration Vespers in the evening at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and Saints Philip and James in Montevideo.
On Saturday, he travelled to Paysandu, where he celebrated Mass at the Parque París Londres. He returned to Montevideo that afternoon and celebrated a prayer vigil at the Centenary Stadium.
On Sunday, he celebrated Mass in the square in front of the Cathedral Basilica of Florida, before being farewelled from Montevideo Airport.
He arrived in Argentina on Sunday afternoon for the second leg of his 12-day Apostolic Journey.
He will spend a few days in the country before moving onto Peru where he will conclude his trip.
