A pope who can draw millions into the streets is difficult for any government to ignore.
Pope Leo XIV has urged Argentinians to follow the "holy example" of the country's saints and build a more "fraternal and caring nation", as an estimated 650,000 people packed the central city of Cordoba for Mass, Al Jazeera reports. The 71-year-old pontiff celebrated the liturgy on Tuesday on the esplanade of a military aircraft factory, according to the report, on a 12-day Latin America tour that comes less than a month after lung cancer surgery.
The Vatican put attendance in Cordoba at 650,000 pilgrims, the broadcaster reports, following Monday's Mass in Buenos Aires, where about 2.5 million worshippers gathered — described as the largest of his pontificate so far. In Cordoba, Leo listed Argentinian saints and blessed figures as examples of a unity "between passion for the Gospel and commitment to building a fraternal and caring nation", urging citizens to evangelise "at school and in the square, in the family and with friends, in the countryside and in the city, at the dairy farm and in the office".
The crowds reflect a long absence. According to the report, the faithful travelled from across the country after nearly 40 years without a papal visit. "It was quite a journey," Erika Vinales told Al Jazeera; she had travelled 2,000km (1,242 miles) from Patagonia with fellow teacher Elena Llanquenao. The scale of the gatherings, and the distances people covered to attend them, give the visit a political weight beyond its liturgical purpose.
That weight is being felt in the relationship between the Vatican and President Javier Milei's right-wing government. Throughout his three days in Argentina, the report says, Leo has repeatedly challenged the government to make the economy more inclusive, protect trade unions and reverse funding cuts that hurt the poor and people with disabilities. A pope who can draw millions into the streets is difficult for any government to ignore, and the Argentine president — who has publicly clashed with the pontiff before — now faces a moral argument delivered with unusual visibility.
What is not yet known is how the government will respond. The report gives no indication of any official reaction from Milei's administration to the pope's remarks, and it does not say whether the funding cuts or labour protections the pontiff raised are subject to negotiation. Nor is it clear what, if anything, will follow the visit in policy terms; a papal Mass is not a legislative instrument. The remaining question is whether the crowds translate into pressure that outlasts the tour.
The pontiff's own condition adds a further dimension. That he undertook a 12-day tour less than a month after surgery on his lungs, and sustained the largest Mass of his pontificate in Buenos Aires, will shape how his papacy is read both in Rome and across the region. For Argentina, the visit has supplied a rare moment of national attention; whether it changes the terms of the argument over poverty and disability support is a matter the report leaves open.
