Pope Leo XIV draws 2.5 million faithful to mass in Buenos Aires

Pope Leo XIV celebrated a mass on Monday, November 9, attended by about 2.5 million faithful at the Monument to the Spaniards in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The Vatican provided the attendance figure based on organizer data, and Argentine police sources confirmed the same number to EFE.

The crowd gathered along 2.3 kilometers of Libertador Avenue leading to the altar set up at the foot of the monument. Hundreds of thousands of faithful, curious onlookers, residents, and tourists arrived from the early morning hours to secure a place to see the pope as he passed in the popemobile.

“In the midst of all these sufferings and crises, the Word of God shines for us with hope: God is among us, we cannot fear.”

The pontiff arrived in Argentina on Sunday, November 8, after visiting Uruguay, and will remain until Wednesday, November 11, when he departs for Peru to conclude his South American tour. On Sunday he greeted President Javier Milei and delivered a speech at the Libertad Palace before the economic establishment.

Before the mass, Leo XIV visited the Cottolengo Don Orione home for people with disabilities in Claypole, in the Buenos Aires conurbation. He then traveled to Palermo, where President Milei and his entire cabinet were present at the head of the ceremony.

In his homily, the pope upheld the Christian family as a "pillar" against social precariousness, citing lack of stability, social difficulties, precarious work, domestic violence, painful separations, and addictions that destroy young people's futures and deteriorate family relationships.

He also said that amid suffering and crisis, the Word of God shines with hope and that God is among us, so no one should fear. He told brothers and sisters that Christ has already made room for them in his heart through the resurrection.

This was the most attended ceremony of his pontificate, which began in May 2025, surpassing the mass in Madrid and the youth gathering at Tor Vergata in Rome during the Jubilee. The mass in Córdoba and Luján remains and could match this turnout.