Pope Leo XIV celebrated a Mass at the Monument to the Spaniards in Buenos Aires on Monday, drawing a crowd that EL PAÍS put at about two million people. The setting is the same spot where John Paul II addressed the faithful in 1982. According to EL PAÍS, it was the most heavily attended event so far in Leo XIV's pontificate.
The Mass was the centerpiece of the second day of the Pope's stay in Argentina, part of a South American tour that began in Uruguay and is scheduled to continue in Peru on Wednesday. It is the first papal visit to the country since April 1987, when John Paul II spent six days in Buenos Aires and other Argentine cities.
Crowd estimates varied across outlets. EL PAÍS reported roughly two million people at the Mass, while El Mundo described a gathering of about two and a half million. Hundreds of thousands began leaving the site after the service ended, with others still gathered along the avenue, according to EL PAÍS.
Why it matters
The visit brings the head of the Catholic Church back to a country with deep Catholic roots after nearly four decades without a papal trip. Its scale — a Mass measured in the millions — and its timing give the Pope a prominent platform on economic and social questions at a moment when unemployment weighs heavily on Argentina's economy.
The day's schedule also showed how Leo XIV is using the trip: pairing public liturgy with private meetings on labor, disability, interfaith relations and abuse. The Vatican press office disclosed that before his afternoon event the Pope met five people who had been abused by clergy and church institutions in Argentina — a session that had not been announced in advance.
A morning at Cottolengo and a message on dignity
The Pope opened his day at the Cottolengo center for people with disabilities in Claypole, run by the Don Orione community. EL PAÍS reported that he appeared moved as he listened to two women who live at the center describe their experiences.
There, he stressed the worth of human dignity and inclusion, contrasting these with what he described as a pursuit of financial success and a cult of physical appearance. The remarks set a theme that carried through the rest of the day.
At the Catholic University: work, wages and the role of the state
In the afternoon, Leo XIV traveled to the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in Puerto Madero for a meeting with business owners, union representatives and leaders of social movements.
According to EL PAÍS, the Pope argued that in the Church's social teaching the state should not attempt to do everything itself. Its role, he said, is to encourage the work of intermediate bodies — families, local authorities, groups and social movements — while retaining regulatory power for the common good and taking on tasks that smaller bodies cannot perform.
Addressing employers, he warned that a globalized economic structure tends toward a "throwaway culture," and said solidarity can become a force for building a social order that reshapes market needs and labor relations around justice and reciprocity. Talents, he said, become a privileged way of contributing to the common good that adapts to technological progress without leaving anyone behind.
He called unemployment a genuine drama for those who endure it. Denying someone work, he said, does more than remove an income: it wounds their dignity, cancels their ability to contribute to society and pushes them into exclusion, weakening social cohesion.
He returned more than once to a single principle — that the human person is the author, center and end of economic and social life. The economy, he said, must serve the person, not the person the economy.
The Pope heard from two workers before speaking. Sabrina Sapone, a union delegate, defended the role of unions, and Verónica San Martín, a waste recycler from La Plata, described leaving home with her children because of domestic violence and beginning to collect cardboard to feed them. San Martín asked the Pope for words to guide workers who risk their lives on the job each day, according to EL PAÍS.
An unannounced meeting with abuse victims
The Vatican press office said the Pope met five victims of abuse by members of the clergy and church institutions in Argentina, who were presented by the local Church. He spoke with each one separately, hearing their accounts and their proposals for strengthening paths of healing within the Church, then blessed them together and thanked them for their testimony. Through them, the statement said, he expressed closeness to other victims he could not meet and a commitment to strengthening protection, welcome and support.
The disclosure came as the journalist Paula Bistagnino, author of a book on abuse within Opus Dei in Argentina, published messages from some of those victims asking Leo XIV to grant them an audience during the trip, EL PAÍS reported.
What else is on the schedule
Later on Monday, the Pope was due to meet leaders of Christian communities and other religious traditions at the San Martín Palace. The day was to close with vespers alongside the Argentine bishops at the Metropolitan Cathedral, followed by dinner with the bishops.
The Argentine presidency shared video of the full Mass on social media, EL PAÍS noted.
Coverage of the crowd size differed between outlets, and final attendance figures are unlikely to be confirmed. What to watch next: the Pope's remaining engagements in Argentina and his stop in Peru on Wednesday.
