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Pope Leo Urges Uruguay to Protect Unborn and Dying

Updated 2:13 AM ET · 9:33 AM ETConfirmedShare via:          

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In Short: Pope Leo XIV urged Uruguay to protect the unborn and those at the end of life during a speech in Montevideo’s Plaza Independencia.

Pope Leo XIV urges faithful to be ‘bridge builders,’ praises mate ritual during Mass in Uruguay. Associated Press

Pope Leo XIV urged Uruguay to protect the unborn and those at the end of life during a speech in Montevideo’s Plaza Independencia, where he framed his remarks around bronze reliefs depicting the 1811 exodus led by national hero José Gervasio Artigas.

Reflecting on a figure of a mother holding a baby, Pope Leo emphasized that the unborn already belong to the human family and must be protected, alongside support for mothers, fathers, and families.

Pope Leo also addressed Uruguay’s President Yamandú Orsi and other dignitaries, noting that the country’s secular identity should not confine religion to the private sphere but should protect freedom for believers and nonbelievers.

The pope highlighted the importance of peace and dialogue in resolving differences, praising the role of Mercosur, the bloc Uruguay forms with Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

Pope Leo stressed that no one should be compelled to act against their conscience or prevented from acting in accordance with it, whether in private or in public, individually or in association with others, within due limits, quoting St. Paul VI’s 1965 declaration on religious freedom, “Dignitatis Humanae.”

Pope Leo also defended life from conception, referencing abortion, legal in Uruguay since 2012, and euthanasia, approved in 2025. He noted that the country’s Ministry of Public Health recorded 11,445 reported abortions in 2025, the highest annual figure since the law took effect and an increase from 11,232 in 2024.

The pope also addressed Uruguay’s high suicide rate, emphasizing that adequate healthcare, family ties, and the closeness of the community are inseparable. He noted that loneliness, anxiety, and the loss of hope can become so profound that a person no longer sees a reason to continue living.

Pope Leo’s speech carried particular weight in Uruguay, the region’s only country without a Christian majority, where Pew Research Center estimated that 52 percent of its population was religiously unaffiliated in 2020.

Pope Leo also praised Uruguay’s transformation of its energy mix and its commitment to the common good and care for natural resources.

Pope Leo’s visit to Uruguay marks the first time a pope has returned to the country since John Paul II’s visits in 1987 and 1988, when Catholics had not yet become a minority in the country.

Pope Leo’s speech in Montevideo’s Plaza Independencia was part of his 12-day journey through Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru, despite undergoing lung surgery earlier this month.

What this adds

Background

What's confirmed

• Reflecting on a figure of a mother holding a baby, the pope said “the unborn already belong to the human family,” adding that protecting unborn children must be accompanied by support for mothers, fathers and families.
• Speaking to President Yamandú Orsi, public officials and diplomats in Montevideo’s Plaza Independencia, Pope Leo framed his remarks around the bronze reliefs depicting the 1811 exodus led by national hero José Gervasio Artigas.
• The absolute dependence of the unborn on their mother “does not diminish the dignity to which they are entitled or the protection they deserve.” Uruguay legalized abortion in 2012.
• More than 129,000 were recorded from 2013 through 2025.
• The pope addressed Uruguay’s President Yamandú Orsi and other dignitaries in the country’s capital on the first day of an 11-day tour of the continent that will also take him to Argentina and Peru.
• The stop opened the pope’s 12-day journey through Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
• “The Church wishes to continue offering the Uruguayan people what she herself has received,” the pope said, while cooperating with all who promote the common good and human dignity. – – – Inés San Martín writes for OSV News from Rosario, Argentina.
• “One of the secrets of evangelization is to resemble the One whom we proclaim. In this land, where many of our contemporaries barely know Jesus Christ and so many young people have grown up far from the life of the Church, that witness has a special power. May the way we look at others, the way we listen, or the way we reach out to those who suffer prompt them to ask about the origins of that love. When we speak to them of Jesus, may they discover the very Lord whose goodness they have begun to experience, despite our own poverty,” the pope said.
• Pope Leo later turned to illness, disability, physical pain and the loss of autonomy, insisting that such circumstances do not reduce a person’s value.
• The pope referred to his recent surgery for lung cancer, less than a month before his trip to South America, in his call for universal healthcare.
• “Individuals and religious communities can contribute to the common good while respecting the autonomy of civil institutions.” Pope Leo XIV participates in vespers at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and Sts.
• Echoing remarks he made in September in France, whose model of secularism has historically influenced Uruguay, Leo called for religious believers and institutions to take part in public life.

What's still developing

• Orsi welcomed him to a region “where there are no wars between countries”, called him “dear friend” and noted that in Uruguay former presidents sit together “in peace and joy”.
• Uruguay separated Church and State in its 1919 Constitution.
• In 1997, Dylan was invited to perform alongside other artists at the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in Bologna, before the Pope—then John Paul II—and a crowd of approximately 300,000 young people.
• The verses cited by the Pope in the book published by LEV, edited by journalist Alessandro Banfi, come from “Go Away You Bomb,” a protest song written by the artist in 1963, at the height of Cold War tensions.
• The collective memory retains the image of the singer who, after performing three of his great classics—including “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”—removed his cowboy hat, climbed the steps to the papal stage, and exchanged a handshake and a few brief words with Pope John Paul.
• “The secular character of the state involves an obligation to ensure that there is room for believers and nonbelievers to live together in freedom and respect. This neutrality does not require that the religious dimension be confined to the private sphere,” the pope said.
• | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News Leo also took up the theme of Uruguay’s secularism in his second and final speech of the day, a homily at a vespers service in the city’s cathedral with bishops, clergy, religious, and seminarians.
• The 70-year-old pope recently underwent surgery to remove a portion of his right lung to treat cancer.
• Nearly four decades later, as Pope Leo XIV becomes the first pope since to return to the southeastern South American country, just 36% of the population is Catholic according to an August survey by Equipos Consultores.
• The Holy Father spoke in defense of the unborn and against euthanasia, approved last year in Uruguay.
• The Holy Father framed his speech around a piece of art that stands in the capital of Montevideo; it is a monument to Artigas and the historical moment at the heart of modern-day Uruguay, known as the Exodus of the People of the East in 1811.

Sources

• Enlink
• Ewtnnewslink
• OSV Newslink
• Ewtnvaticanlink
• Enlink
• Aleteialink
• WarpBeat — background on Pope Leo XIV Urges Uruguay to Protect Unborn and Dying link
• WarpBeat — background on Pope Leo XIV to Visit Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru link
• Associated Press — video link
• CBS Philadelphia — video link
• Vatican News — video link
• WPLG Local 10 — video link
• EWTN News — video link
• WPLG Local 10 — video link