Pope Leo Holds Outdoor Mass in Buenos Aires on November 9; City Officials Expect More Than 1.5 Million People
Throngs of people were gathering on Monday, November 9, on one of the main boulevards in Buenos Aires as Pope Leo was due to arrive for an outdoor Mass that city officials said could attract more than 1.5 million people, Reuters reported.
Tens of thousands began streaming down the Avenida del Libertador in the early hours of the morning for the event, likely to be one of the largest gatherings of Leo's 12-day tour across South America and of his 18-month papacy. Normally bustling streets in the Argentine capital stood nearly empty as police cordoned off large sections of the city to create a security zone, and vendors along the pilgrims' route were selling souvenirs of the visit, including flags featuring the pope's face.
"I love that (Leo) is visiting us," said Claudia Pardo, 37, who was waiting amid the crowds with her husband and two young children. "It's a unique, historic moment, and we should listen to his message."
Leo, 71, is on an ambitious 50-event, three-country tour less than a month after undergoing lung cancer surgery. He visited Uruguay before arriving in Argentina on Sunday and will travel on to Peru on Wednesday before leaving the region on November 17. The first U.S.-born pope spent decades as a missionary in Peru, and the Vatican has described the tour as a "homecoming." A pope has not visited majority-Catholic Argentina since 1987.
On Sunday, the pope addressed Argentine President Javier Milei, a libertarian seen as a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. He urged Milei, who has pushed an austerity agenda that the Church has strongly criticized for cutting social services, not to target Argentina's poorest, and told him that leaders should be careful with their words and know the limits of their power.
Ahead of Monday's Mass, Leo was due to visit a care center for people with disabilities on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires. Jorge Silanes, religious director of the Pequeño Cottolengo Don Orione center welcoming Leo, said the visit carried added significance because Milei's spending cuts have reduced disability benefits while poverty in Argentina remains widespread. The largest event yet in Leo's papacy came in June, when some 1.2 million people turned out in Madrid during the pontiff's visit to Spain.
Source: Reuters, November 9, 2026.
来源链接： https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/huge-crowds-gather-buenos-aires-pope-leos-outdoor-mass-2026-11-09/
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Source: Holy See Press Office
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 梵蒂冈圣彼得广场（资料图）。（Wikimedia Commons）|St. Peter's Square in the Vatican (file photo). (Wikimedia Commons)
