Pope Leo XIV Celebrates Mass in Córdoba, Argentina: Some 650,000 Attend as He Calls Mission a Joyful Duty
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass on November 10 on the grounds of the Military Aviation School in Córdoba, Argentina's second-largest city, with some 650,000 people attending according to local authorities, the Holy See Press Office said. It was the third day of the Argentine leg of the Pope's November 6-17 apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, the first visit by a serving pope to Argentina since 1987.
The Mass was celebrated for the sanctification of the Argentine people. In his homily, the Pope called Córdoba a home of saints, citing St. José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero and St. María Antonia de Paz Figueroa, known as Mama Antula, among Argentina's saints and blesseds, and said all Christians are called to holiness, a calling that is always missionary: the beauty known in Christ must be made known to others, and carrying out the mission entrusted by the Lord is a joyful duty. Cardinal Ángel Sixto Rossi, Archbishop of Córdoba, thanked the Pope at the end of the Mass.
The Pope flew from Buenos Aires to Córdoba that morning, toured the grounds in an open car before the Mass, and in the afternoon met bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians and pastoral workers at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, urging them not to give up and to renew their fidelity to their original call. He also greeted the faithful from the balcony of the Archbishop's Residence and called all Argentinians to unity.
That evening, back in Buenos Aires, the Pope led a prayer vigil with young people at the Monumento de los Españoles. 'Who told you it was too late?' he asked Argentina's young people, inviting them to return to Christ in prayer, saying it is never too late to respond to God's call to holiness.
A day earlier, the Pope's November 9 Mass in Buenos Aires drew an estimated 2.5 million people according to local authorities, the largest gathering of his pontificate. On November 11 he is scheduled to visit a federal prison in Buenos Aires and celebrate Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján, Argentina's patroness, before travelling on to Peru. Vatican News also reported the same day that the Pope sent a video message to the plenary meeting of the International Catholic Migration Commission, encouraging it to keep welcoming and caring for displaced children.
(Source: Vatican News)
Source: Vatican News
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：教宗良十四世11月9日在布宜诺斯艾利斯 Palermo 乘教宗座车向信众挥手，为其阿根廷之行第二日。布宜诺斯艾利斯市政府，CC BY 2.5 ar，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Pope Leo XIV waves from the popemobile in Palermo, Buenos Aires, on November 9, the second day of his journey to Argentina. Government of the City of Buenos Aires, CC BY 2.5 ar, via Wikimedia Commons.
