Pope in Uruguay: Church offers Jesus Christ and hope proclaimed by Gospel
By Christopher Wells
“I have come” to Uruguay, Pope Leo XIV said on Friday, “as the Successor of Peter and as a shepherd, with the desire to meet the pilgrim Church in this land and to draw near, with affection, to all her people.”
In the first major address of his Apostolic Journey to Uruguay, Pope Leo took inspiration from La Redota, the foundational event in the history of Uruguay, to reflect on the meaning of the common good.
Quoting José Artigas, the Father of Uruguay, the Pope said governing authority comes from “a specific community and is accountable to that community.”
Public authority, he continued, “finds its raison d’être (reason for being) in service to the common good and is called to exercise it within the framework of law, with respect for the freedom and responsibility of the citizenry.”
The Pope emphasized the value “of structures that allow participation in public life, define powers of institutions, and provide for elections for those who govern.”
Concern for the future
At the same time, he insisted on “the duty to pass on to future generations the goods we have received,” highlighting Uruguay’s “remarkable” efforts to promote renewable energy.
“Concern for the future,” Pope Leo said, also includes caring for the unborn, being attentive to the education of children, and preserving the human dignity of the elderly.
He went on to express concern for those with “hidden burdens,” such as loneliness, anxiety, and the loss of hope. Noting the “painful reality of suicide,” Pope Leo said, “adequate health care, family ties, and the closeness of the community are inseparable,” adding, “no one should ever feel like a stranger among their own, or think that their absence matters less than their presence.”
Mentioning his own recent experience of illness – a bout with cancer that involved the surgical removal of part of one of his lungs – Pope Leo lamented the many people who lack the means for “a timely diagnosis or the treatment they need.”
“Ensuring that health care is accessible to everyone,” he said, “regardless of their resources, is a duty that confronts every society.” For the Church, this commitment is based on Christ’s commandment to “serve Him in those most in need.”
It is incumbent on everyone, he continued, “to ensure that each person can live with dignity, receive the care they need, and be accompanied until the natural end of his or her life.”
For her part, in cooperating with all those who work “to alleviate suffering,” the Church “contributes what is unique to her: a hope that does not fade when human resources reach their limits and which reminds those undergoing trials that their lives always retain meaning and value, that they are not alone, and that even in dark times they do not cease to be loved by God.”
Peaceful coexistence in diversity
Pope Leo XIV then went on to highlight the diversity of Uruguay’s population, and the significance of peaceful coexistence, even among people of different backgrounds and unequal resources.
The Holy Father spoke strongly about the obligation for states to ensure that “believers and non-believers can live together in respect and freedom.” This does not mean that religion must be “confined to the private sphere,” however.
Citing the Second Vatican Council, he insisted that no one can be compelled to act against their conscience, or prevented from acting on it, privately and publicly, individually or in groups, within due limits.
“On the basis of this freedom, individuals and religious communities can contribute to the common good while respecting the autonomy of civil institutions.”
Expanding on this theme, the Pope argued that this respect and “harmonious coexistence” must extend to relations with other countries. “Persevering in respect for law, negotiation, and the patient search for agreements is a service Uruguay can continue to offer its neighbors.”
Pope Leo said the monument to Artigas and the Redota—the backdrop to his address—revealed an “enduring element of the life of Uruguay: the responsibility of each person to another, which has allowed people of different generations to persevere in building a shared history.”
Offering Christ and His Gospel
Finally, after recalling how the ties that bind the Holy See to Uruguay go back to the earliest years of the nation’s independence, Pope Leo said, “with her history of faith and service dating back centuries, the Church wishes to continue offering the Uruguayan people what she herself has received — Jesus Christ and the hope proclaimed by his Gospel — and to cooperate, through her own mission, with all those who work to promote the common good and the dignity of every person.”
