Pope Leo tells young Argentinians: Stand firm, become saints, ‘go and proclaim’.

-By Inés San Martín, editor of MISSION magazine and co-host of the Spanish-language podcast «Deciphering León». 

Nearly four decades after young Argentinians filled the streets of Buenos Aires for a historic World Youth Day with St. John Paul II, more than a million people gathered in the same city on November 10 for an open-air prayer vigil with Pope Leo XIV.

The Pope's arrival

The atmosphere was reminiscent of that 1987 gathering: a celebration of faith that drew young people who came with Catholic movements, parishes, and families, while others arrived on their own. Some carried flags or t-shirts identifying their communities; others brought only backpacks, water, and the firm intention of securing a good spot near the main monument of the evening, the Monument to the Spanish.

The energy in the air while they waited for Pope Leo was simply electrifying, and once the journey in the popemobile began, dozens of babies saw their parents' wish fulfilled: a papal blessing from a man who visibly enjoyed the evening despite the marathon day he had had.

Some pilgrims began arriving around midnight on November 9, although access to the avenue surrounding the monument was not opened until noon the following day. At that time, Pope Leo was still some 700 kilometers away in Córdoba, where he celebrated Mass before approximately 650,000 people, according to local authorities.

Stories of fall and hope

Before delivering his reflection, Pope Leo XIV listened to two young Argentinians describe very different experiences of falling, searching, and new beginnings. A 25-year-old man, recovering from addiction, recounted how bullying, loneliness, and cocaine use, which began at age 15, left him homeless. He told how a Hogar de Cristo community took him in with food, a bed, and a hug; after relapses and a difficult recovery, he now accompanies other young people struggling with addiction.

A 31-year-old woman considering religious life described how she resisted a vocation she had felt since childhood until a spiritual director asked her, «Who told you it was too late?» She said the question restored her hope and helped her recognize «a God who knows how to wait.».

Pope Leo XIV then answered two questions. A teacher who had volunteered in disadvantaged neighborhoods since the age of 16 asked how Christians can persevere when their efforts to accompany marginalized people seem insufficient. A sports journalist, catechist, and volunteer asked how to integrate faith with work and daily responsibilities. Pope Leo XIV urged them not to lose hope when their strength wanes and affirmed that Christians should not live «two separate lives, one for God and another for their daily occupations.» Work, study, and friendship, he said, can become prayer and «a path to holiness» when lived with love and offered to God.

The vigil in Buenos Aires was held in the same place where, a day earlier, Pope Leo XIV had celebrated a mass for approximately 2.5 million people, the largest gathering of his pontificate.

A faith that is reborn

Lucía Sánchez, 22, told OSV News that she initially had no intention of attending either event. «I wasn’t really planning on coming, as crowds aren’t really my thing,» she said. «However, after watching the Mass online on Monday, I knew I had to come. I guess it was fear of missing out.».

Lucas Baraldi, 29, said his decision to attend reflected a more personal return to the Church. Until earlier this year, Baraldi described himself as a «non-practicing Catholic.« When Pope Leo XIV’s trip was announced, he said he immediately thought of his mother, who died last year and «would have taken me to all the events.».

«In recent months, I’ve reconnected with my faith, and during Mass yesterday I went to confession for the first time in over a decade,» he said. «I was raised in a Catholic family, going to Mass on Sundays because that’s what was done,» Baraldi said. «But today, I can’t help but think that I’m choosing to embrace the faith.».

Pope Leo XIII's words during the November 9 Mass on the transmission of faith by parents brought back memories of his mother. «I couldn't help but think of my mother, who prayed with us every night,» Baraldi said. «How I wish I had cherished those moments more.».

The memory of 1987

Argentina had not received a pope since the visit of Saint John Paul II in 1987, which culminated in the second World Youth Day and brought together some 900,000 young people in Buenos Aires. Saint John Paul II had inaugurated the World Youth Days in Rome in 1986, and the Argentine Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio played a decisive role in their creation and development.

Cardinal Pironio, then president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, was one of the principal architects of World Youth Day and accompanied Saint John Paul II to its international celebrations. Pope Leo XIV remembered the cardinal—beatified in 2023—during his Mass in Córdoba on November 10.

During Tuesday's prayer vigil, the tens of thousands of candles distributed by the organizers recreated the atmosphere of 1987, with all the screens turned off and Libertador Avenue, one of the city's main thoroughfares, still illuminated.

Resist the idols of our time

At the vigil held in Buenos Aires, Pope Leo XIV used the biblical story of the three young men thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue to exhort young people to resist contemporary forms of idolatry.

«Today, idols also emerge that demand our worship: success at any price, money, obsession with appearance, popularity, or the unbridled pursuit of pleasure,» he said.

The Pope warned that seeking approval can lead people to «lie, betray, or humiliate someone on social media,» while pornography and addictive substances promise pleasure but ultimately enslave.

«You too are called to stand firm against the idols of our time,» he said. «Do not bow down to anything that cannot give you life. And if you have ever fallen, get up.».

«All towards Christ, all with Christ, all like Christ»

Inspired by Pope Francis« repeated invitation at World Youth Day in Lisbon — »All, all, all!« — Pope Leo organized his message around three phrases: »All towards Christ, all with Christ, all like Christ.".

He addressed the young people who had grown up close to the Church, those who were just beginning to seek Christ, and those who had stopped praying, drifted away, or been hurt by people who should have been guiding them. «To each of you, I want to say that there is a place for you in the Church, with your questions, your wounds, and your story,» Pope Leo said. «This is also your home.».

The Pope urged those who thought it was too late to return not to wait until their lives were in order. «Whoever you are and whatever you have done, Jesus Christ knows you, loves you, and wants you to be close to him,» he said. «No one has fallen so low that Christ cannot lift them up.».

Pope Leo also spoke directly about conversion and the sacrament that Baraldi had rediscovered the day before.

«Christ loves us just as we are, but his love is too great to leave us prisoners of sin, of that which destroys us,» the Pope said. «Do not be afraid to approach the sacrament of reconciliation.».

He then issued the central challenge of the evening: «Become saints.» According to him, this holiness should be made visible through service: sharing bread with the hungry, welcoming the homeless, visiting the sick or the forgotten, and responding to the less visible forms of suffering.

«May your lives become pages of the Gospel, written with the ink of mercy,» said Pope Leo.

Before blessing a cross that will travel among the Catholic communities of Argentina, the Pope entrusted the young people with the second part of the motto for his visit to Argentina: «Go and proclaim!» «Go to your cities and towns, to every corner and every periphery,» he said. «May those who feel far from God discover, through you, that Christ is seeking them.».