The speech of Leo XIV at the Centenario Stadium, delivered on the night of Saturday, November 7 before tens of thousands of faithful, concluded with a very concrete proposal. “Young people, dare to take the step of getting married and forming a family. Do not fear the ‘forever’!”, said the Pontiff. He then addressed married couples, asking them to open their homes to life “even when the world tells you that a child is a burden.”
Marriage, children and vocations
The Pope also dedicated some words to those who perceive a call to the priesthood or consecrated life, urging them not to ignore that voice “for fear of losing other possibilities.” He then listed a series of moral demands, such as paying the price of being just and honest, forgiving even when it seems like a defeat, and accepting being last, giving time, money and projects in service to others. The goal, he explained, is that those who observe these Christians will come to ask themselves: “Why does he live like this? Where does he get this freedom from? Why do they love each other so much?”
The reference to “forever” alludes to a teaching that the Church maintains unchanged. The Code of Canon Law establishes that the essential properties of marriage are unity and indissolubility (c. 1056). Openness to life is part of the matrimonial doctrine contained, among other documents, in the encyclical Humanae vitae. Leo XIV did not cite these texts in Montevideo, but his exhortation follows that line.
Bethlehem, or the faith of a minority
The guiding thread of the address was secularization. Leo XIV described a scenario in which faith is no longer transmitted with the naturalness of previous generations and in which the number of people living without a regular relationship with the Church is growing. According to him, Uruguayan Catholics have had to learn to live their faith under these conditions. That is why their experience can serve communities in other countries that are beginning to discover what it means to be a minority.
To illustrate this, he turned to Bethlehem, a small city chosen by God, and asked that smallness not be confused with insignificance. “To illuminate much, it is not necessary to be many, but to reflect the light of the Lord,” he summarized. He warned that indifference can also reach believers themselves. As a remedy, he pointed to prayer, Mass, confession, reading the Gospel and eucharistic adoration before the tabernacle. He concluded with a direct invitation to holiness, “Be holy!”, instead of a faith of mere habit, and entrusted those present to Our Lady of the Thirty-Three, patroness of Uruguay.
Attendance, which was massive, varies according to the source. EWTN News, citing local authorities, speaks of about 70,000 people inside the stadium and another 30,000 in the surrounding area. The same outlet had previously reported around 60,000 faithful upon the Pope’s arrival, which is also the figure recorded by AFP. Before the speech, Cardinal Daniel Sturla, Archbishop of Montevideo, two young people and a family spoke, offering their testimonies.
The vigil concluded a day that began with the Pope’s first Mass in Uruguay, in Paysandú, and continued with a visit to the Casavalle neighborhood and a meeting with the educational world at the Catholic University. According to EWTN, Leo XIV is the second Pope to set foot in the Centenario, 38 years after Saint John Paul II. A Mass in Florida is scheduled for Sunday before his transfer to Buenos Aires.