Pope Leo heads for Peru homecoming after drawing two million at final Argentina event

Detailed summary

Pope Leo heads to Peru after a record Argentina Mass and emotional farewell, with his homecoming set to test ties with President Fujimori. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Pope Leo XIV bidding farewell in Argentina’s Buenos Aires on Nov 11, as he boards an aircraft to Lima, Peru.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT, Argentina - Pope Leo departed on Nov 11 for Peru and an emotional homecoming after wrapping up a visit to Argentina that drew a record six million people over three days.

Leo, on a three-nation 12-day South America tour, ended his Argentina visit with an outdoor Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Lujan, Argentina’s most important Catholic devotional site, where throngs of pilgrims had gathered for days in advance for a chance to see him.

The Mass drew a two million-strong crowd that stretched for miles outside the shrine, located about an hour west of Buenos Aires.

People pressed against security barriers, chanting “Leo, Leo, Leo” and waved white-and-yellow Vatican flags as he arrived in an open-air popemobile.

Some in the crowd had walked as far as 10km to arrive, with many streets closed as a security measure.

In his sermon, Leo asked God to protect Argentina and urged Argentines to have a place for everyone in their society, “especially those who are most in need: the poor and the hungry, migrants, the sick and prisoners.”

The pope on Nov 11 also visited one of Argentina’s largest penitentiaries, where he hugged several inmates and urged guards to treat detainees humanely.

During his three-day visit to Argentina, Leo has urged consideration for the disadvantaged at a time when President Javier Milei’s austerity agenda has been criticised by the Church for affecting the poor.

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