In the first holy mass celebrated in Argentina in 39 years, the Pope highlighted the role of the family as a transmitter of values
Leo XIV also listed the problems affecting families, including “the lack of stability, social difficulties, precarious work, domestic violence, painful separations, addictions that destroy the future of young people, and deteriorate family relationships.”
In light of this scenario, he called for the recovery of religious practices within the home and for the transmission of faith to new generations.
More than two million people gathered at the Monument to the Spaniards in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo to participate in the first holy mass celebrated in Argentina in the last 39 years.
The Pope Leo XIV led the ceremony and dedicated his homily to the importance of family in Argentine society and to the transmission of faith.
According to estimates from the national government, the turnout doubled that of the last papal mass in the country, held on April 12, 1987, a Palm Sunday, when approximately one million people gathered around Avenida 9 de Julio.
At 12:05, after the religious songs, prayers of praise, and biblical readings, Leo XIV began his address with four words: “Dear sisters and brothers.” It was the same greeting he had used hours earlier during his visit to the Little Cottolengo Don Orione in Claypole.
In a twelve-minute speech, the pontiff focused on the place of family in the history and culture of the country. “The history, culture, and society of Argentina have found in the family the source from which to draw the fundamental values of the people,” he stated.
In this regard, he emphasized that Argentine homes have historically been spaces for the transmission of faith, human virtues, the culture of work, respect for elders, the defense of life, and fidelity to one’s word.
He also rejected the questioning of the relevance of the Christian family: “Do not resign yourselves to the voices that repeat that the Christian family is outdated; on the contrary, today more than ever it represents a pillar amid the many precarities of our time.”
He mentioned examples such as the blessing before meals, prayers before sleeping, forgiveness, mutual listening, participation in Sunday masses, and pilgrimages. “The family is, in fact, the privileged place to know and find Christ,” he asserted.
During the homily, he also evoked Pope Francis, whom he highlighted for his passionate words and remembered as the bishop of Buenos Aires. The reference provoked one of the loudest applause from the crowd.
“The Argentine Church needs you,” he later expressed while calling on families to become protagonists of evangelization and to support the work of bishops, parish priests, pastoral agents, and catechists.
The message concluded with an invocation to the Virgin of Luján and Saint Joseph to entrust the Argentine families to them. At 12:16, the address ended, which was met by those present with the chant “Long live the Pope, long live.”
The crowd that accompanied the ceremony consisted of families, mothers, fathers, children, siblings, and groups of faithful who came to listen to the pontiff. In his first mass on Argentine soil in nearly four decades, Leo XIV made the family the central focus of his message.
