Cathedral Basilica of Florida, National Shrine of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three (Florida)
Sunday, 8 November 2026
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Dear brothers and sisters of this land of Uruguay,
With great enthusiasm, I am here with you today next to Our Lady of the Thirty-Three. I come as a pilgrim to share in the faith and the tenderness with which the Uruguayan people have looked at the Mother of God for generations. I say to those who have come from different places, to those who have been making the pilgrimage here for years, and to those who are visiting for the first time today: I embrace all of you with affection and entrust you to Mary’s protection.
Today, the word of God presents us with two women who lived in very different times and upon whom almost the same blessing is bestowed. To Judith, after the liberation of her people, it was said: “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth” (Jud 13:18). Many centuries later, Elizabeth welcomes Mary into her home and exclaims: “Blessed are you among women” (Lk 1:42).
This connection was recognized very early on by Christian tradition. In Judith, it saw a woman who did not allow herself to be overcome by fear at a difficult time for her people. Through prayer and fasting, she made a decision that led her to risk her own life (cf. Jud 8-10). When victory came, Judith did not take credit for it, for she knew full well who had saved Israel, and said: “Begin a song to my God with tambourines, sing to my Lord with cymbals” (Jud 16:1). That is why the words with which her people welcomed her are so majestic: “You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the great boast of Israel, you are the great pride of our nation!” (Jud 15:9). The people celebrated what God had done for them through Judith.
Hearing these words today before the Patroness of this country has a special resonance. This small image is linked to a decisive moment in Uruguay’s history. In 1825, those who were fighting for the freedom of this land also turned to Mary, to place the beginning of their efforts under her protection. That gesture reminds us that the history of peoples, too, cannot be fully understood without reference to God. Thus, from the earliest days of the nation’s founding, Uruguay has been intimately linked to a Mother. Since that time, generations have come and gone, circumstances have changed, including the relationship of many Uruguayans to the faith. Yet she has remained here. While Mary accompanied the history of this people, at the same time in so many homes other women preserved the faith and passed it on to their children.
I think of the mothers who placed the first words of prayer on their children’s lips, who took them to be baptized, who prepared them to receive the sacraments, and who taught them to live out Christian charity. I think of the grandmothers who kept an altar at home, who prayed for the living and the deceased and who made God present in the ordinary events of life. Even in the early days of the Church we find something similar. Timothy’s faith was rooted in two women, with the Apostle fondly recalling Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. In them, “sincere faith” had first taken root, which Paul also recognized in Timothy (cf. 2 Tim 1:5). Scripture tells us little about those two women. We know, however, that Timothy, who would become a close collaborator of Saint Paul, was formed by that faith learned at home (cf. Acts 16:1-3).
This land also has women’s names inscribed in its history of faith. Among them is Saint María Francisca Rubatto, who chose to remain among you and serve those most in need here. There are also the Blessed Martyrs Dolores and Consuelo Aguiar-Mella, two sisters born in Montevideo. Their lives were very different, but in all three we find supreme examples of faithfulness.
Yet most of this history of faith in the country was never written down in books. It was quietly passed down from generation to generation within families. When we wonder and ask where our faith comes from, the name of a specific woman often comes to mind: a mother, a grandmother, a godmother, a religious sister or a catechist. We may not remember every word they said to us, but we do remember how they prayed, how they spoke of the Lord and with what conviction they lived out what they taught us.
Today I would like to thank all of those women. Thank you for having believed and for having kept open a path to God in so many families. Some were able to do so supported by a long-standing family tradition; others had to sustain that faith with greater effort, perhaps without always finding understanding or support within their own homes. I know that many of you carry a very specific sorrow. You taught your children to pray, and today they no longer do so. You used to attend Mass together, and it has been years since they entered a church. You spoke to your grandchildren about God, and now you do not know if those words left a mark. Sometimes you wonder if you did something wrong or if it was all futile. Allow me to recall Saint Monica here, who knew that pain well. She prayed for years for a son who seemed to be drifting further and further from God, but she never stopped trusting in his grace. Therefore, do not consider what you have sown to be lost. The Lord himself taught us that the seed can grow without the sower knowing how (cf. Mk 4:27).
Mothers and grandmothers: never tire of passing on the faith! Preach with your lives as well as with your words. Insist on prayer, love, and hope; insist on them in season and out of season (cf. 2 Tim 4:2). Do so with patience, without harshness or discouragement. Even if your loved ones seem far from God, continue to place them before him. Do not stop blessing them, accompanying them, and simply reminding them of what they once received. There are doors that you cannot open, but God can.
I would also like to address the men — fathers and grandfathers. Your children and grandchildren need to see that the faith occupies a genuine place in the lives of the men in your family. Imitate Saint Joseph, who took on the task of raising Jesus, bringing him to the temple, teaching him to work honestly and showing him that God must come first in a person’s life. Dear fathers and grandfathers, young people need to see that you pray, receive the sacraments, treat your wives with respect, ask for forgiveness and live with integrity, even when doing so requires sacrifice. Children learn a great deal by seeing that their father can kneel before God without feeling that he is any less of a man for doing it.
Scripture called on God’s people to keep the words they have received from him in their hearts and to teach them to their children, to speak of them “when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise” (Deut 6:7). God was central to conversation, decision making and daily family life. In this way, children learned that the faith they received from their parents was also what their parents lived by. Likewise today, bishops, priests and consecrated persons are also called to support families in this task, generously exercising their spiritual fatherhood and motherhood, accompanying those who falter and helping many to rediscover the path to God.
Passing on the faith means bringing others to Christ, whom we ourselves have encountered. Mary shows us precisely how to do this. In the Gospel, Elizabeth welcomes her exclaiming: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:42). Mary does not keep that praise to herself. When Elizabeth proclaims her blessed, Mary responds by singing of the Lord’s greatness (cf. Lk 1:46-55). At Cana, when others turn to her, she directs them to her Son: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).
In the second reading, Saint Paul explicitly states a truth that Mary’s entire life proclaims: “There is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human” (1 Tim 2:5). All of Mary’s greatness is based on her relationship with Christ: she welcomes him, lives by him, and leads others to him. An encounter with the Master is the goal of all evangelization and of all authentic Marian devotion. The Son of God has given himself up for all; thus, no one can be excluded from the Church’s prayer. That is why Saint Paul asks us to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Tim 2:2), and for all people, because God “desires everyone to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4).
On this feast of the Patroness of Uruguay, let us bring this entire people before the Lord. Let us pray for those who bear the responsibility of governing it, that they may seek with integrity the good of all; for families, for young people, for those who suffer, for those who feel far from God and for those who need to return to him and change their lives.
Saint Luke shows us how that mission begins. After conceiving the Son of God, Mary “set out and went with haste” (1:39). She does not wait for Elizabeth to come looking for her, but rather goes out to meet her and enters her home, carrying the Lord with her. There, the child leaps for joy, and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:41-44). Mary’s action also points out the way for us. We cannot always wait for those who have strayed to return on their own. People of Uruguay: you must set out on the journey! You must enter people’s homes once more, draw near to them, listen to their questions and bring them to Christ! Each of you knows a person toward whom you need to take that step: perhaps a child, a friend, a neighbor, someone who stopped believing long ago or who has never had anyone close to them to speak to them about God.
May the Queen of Heaven sustain those who continue to sow the faith. May she teach us to recognize Christ in the poor, the sick and those who are alone, and teach us to bring him to places where he is not yet known.
Soon I will place the Golden Rose before this image. With this gesture, I wish to honor the one who is indeed “the great pride of our nation” (Jud 15:9) and to make visible the fulfillment of the words she herself spoke: “All generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48).
To Mary, commander and guide of this people, I wish to consecrate this nation anew, to entrust this land and all who live in it to her protection and to implore God that, through her powerful intercession, he may thwart the works of the evil one and preserve beloved Uruguay from whatever might lead it away from Christ. May this Golden Rose, offered as a sign of veneration and filial love, also remind her children that they are called to imitate her by loving Christ as she loved him, and bringing him to others as she brought him. Amen.
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Words of Thanks of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the conclusion of Holy Mass
At the conclusion of this Eucharistic celebration, and before saying farewell to this beloved country, I wish to thank all the people who made my visit possible. I thank the civil and religious authorities, the groups that organized each event, the volunteers, the families and communities who came together and worked to make it possible for us to share these days together, as well as the people who have accompanied us through the various means of communication.
I had been told that, although Uruguay is a relatively small country, its people have generous hearts and are capable of great things. That has become evident over these past few days. You have prepared everything so well, and I express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you.
We have gladly shared the joy of faith in Christ, and we have witnessed how this joy has grown with each passing day. May what we have experienced in Montevideo, in Paysandú and here in Florida spread to the rest of the country and the world. Such is the mathematics of faith: what we have received and freely offer, with God’s grace, multiplies, opens new horizons and enriches our lives, giving them new meaning.
Dear brothers and sisters of Uruguay, help faith, hope and charity to continue growing. Keep living and proclaiming the joy that springs from our encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ and you will have, as a result, a full and fruitful life.
Through the intercession of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three, I ask God to bless the Uruguayan people and to guide them along paths of unity and peace. I carry you in my heart and I ask that you continue to accompany me with your prayers. Thank you very much, Uruguay!