Pope Leo XIV Urges Unity for Uruguay’s Poorest
During his Uruguay visit, he toured Casavalle, met residents and condemned school fear, hunger, and street violence.
On Saturday, November 7, 2026, during his apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru (November 6–17), Pope Leo XIV went to Casavalle, a vast northern sector of Montevideo marked by poverty well above the national average and by violence linked in part to drug trafficking.
Local authorities estimated some 12,000 people gathered at the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Cardinal Daniel Fernando Sturla, Archbishop of Montevideo, and parish priest Fr. Pablo Coímbra welcomed the Holy Father. Before addressing the crowd, the Pope visited homes built with parish support and financed through benefactors of the Papal Foundation for needy families, greeting households in their courtyards.
Voices From the Neighborhood
Three residents spoke. Angélica evoked the memory of Fr. Cacho (Isidro Alonso), whom the Pope praised as one who “knew how to build bridges, tear down walls and create encounter.” Alan, a former student of the Liceo Jubilar Juan Pablo II, which serves about 450 young people, shared his experience. Katherine, a young mother and survivor of violence and abuse, asked the Church “not to let go of our hands.” Fr. Coímbra told the Pope that more than 15 Church works operate in the area.
Good Samaritan for Today’s Streets
Drawing on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29–37), Pope Leo XIV said the story “is repeated today” in the “numerous cases of insecurity and violence” that threaten neighborhoods, to which society “so often responds with indifference,” even as many institutions and people of goodwill foster peace.
He insisted: “We cannot pass by when we know there are children in Uruguay who do not go to school for fear of not returning,” and “We cannot silence our conscience when we see that a mother does not have the means to feed her children.” A son of a country so rich in resources, he added, “should not go to sleep without eating,” nor renounce education and a dignified future because of insecurity in the streets.
“We must work together: the Church, civil society and the State. We need to shake off our inertia and advocate for the common good,” he said, framing the choice as building “a new city, in which no one is excluded” or remaining “comfortably absorbed in our own affairs.” Citing Magnifica humanitas (no. 21), he recalled that Church charity acts “with discretion and closeness” yet must not “replace the institutional responsibilities” of civil society.
The visit placed the Church’s preferential option for the poor at the heart of the papal itinerary in Uruguay, joining concrete pastoral presence to a clear appeal for shared responsibility toward the most vulnerable.