The service was held at the Military Aviation School, on the site of the Argentine Aircraft Factory (FAdeA), where huge numbers of people turned out to greet the pontiff. He arrived in the popemobile, riding past the faithful, waving and greeting those who had gathered to see him, then made his way to the altar.

Video shows thousands of worshippers packed across the grounds, nuns and priests at prayer, and people holding rosaries, singing and embracing one another. During the Mass, the pope kissed the altar and incensed a statue of the Virgin Mary. In his homily he urged Catholics to practise their faith in daily life: “Open your hearts and, with God’s grace, go and be saints!”

The Mass marks a high point of Leo XIV’s first trip to Latin America since he became head of the Catholic Church. His 12-day tour covers Uruguay, Argentina and Peru; he spent nearly twenty years in the region as a missionary and bishop before his election as pope.

Argentina is also the birthplace of his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, and had not received a reigning pontiff since John Paul II in 1987. Many worshippers shielded themselves from the sun with umbrellas, while others watched the ceremony from farther off, through binoculars or on their phones.

Source: euronews.com