Faithful from all over Argentina, from the farthest north of the country to Patagonia in the south and points in between, drove hours to be on hand for the service led by the Pope.
Pope Leo XIV urged Argentines on Tuesday to follow the holy example of the country’s best-known saints, as an estimated 650,000 people gathered in the central city of Córdoba for Mass.
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The crowd came a day after an estimated 2.5 million people turned out to see the Pope in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, on Monday.
Faithful from all over Argentina drove for hours to attend the service, arriving from the far north of the country, from Patagonia in the south and from points in between.
Córdoba was chosen to host the Pope because of its central location. The city had gone nearly 40 years without a papal visit.
They include St. José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, known as the “ Gaucho priest,” and “Mama Antula,” who in 2024 became Argentina’s first female saint. They were both canonised by the Argentine Pope Francis.
“We are all called to holiness,” he said. “These saints and blessed have already fulfilled their mission on Earth. Today, it is our turn to follow the radiant example of holiness they have left with us.”
After Mass, Leo surprised the crowds with a brief appearance on the balcony of the archbishop’s residence in downtown Córdoba, the same balcony from which St. John Paul II greeted Córdoba in 1987. Thousands of people chanting “León, León” packed the street below. “United, we can do anything,” the pope told them.
Erika Viñales, 39, and Elena Llanquenao, 54, religious education teachers from Santa Cruz province in Argentina’s Patagonia region, said they travelled 2,000 kilometres (more than 1,200 miles) to be on hand. “It was quite a journey,” Viñales said.
The mass in the city of Córdoba came ahead of a final mass in the town of Luján scheduled for Wednesday, the day on which the pope, also known as Robert Francis Prevost, will leave Argentina to travel to Peru.
Leo XIV posted on his X account: "My arrival in Argentina has, for me, a particular meaning: for twelve years, the universal Church listened to the voice of Pope Francis, who carried with him, in his memory and in his heart, the places, the people and the faith he received here."
"The truth is that to almost touch heaven with your hands is to be very close to it, to feel it in your own flesh," said Romeo Armando, a university student.
Meanwhile, Rosa Acevedo, a retired Argentine woman, could barely contain her emotion: "It is a very great feeling, something that fills me. I am going with all my heart full of blessings".
'Putting the person before the algorithm'
In Uruguay, a few days ago, the Pope warned at the Catholic University of Uruguay in Montevideo about the "dehumanisation" caused by AI: "It is urgent, then, that our school and university education contribute to the wise use of technologies and AI, putting the person before the algorithm and harmonising technical, emotional, social, spiritual and ecological intelligences".
Meanwhile, in Peru, the papal plane and its crew were blessed by Monsignor Paolo Rocco Gualtieri at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima on the eve of the pontiff's arrival.
A giant statue of Pope Leo XIV has been unveiled before his upcoming visit to the country in the port city of Callao, about 15 km from Lima. The Pope, who was born in the United States, holds Peruvian nationality and is returning to the country where he spent many years as a missionary and bishop.