Pope Leo XIV Urges Over a Million Young People in Buenos Aires to Resist Modern Idols

Pope Leo XIV told young Argentines at a prayer vigil in Buenos Aires on the evening of Tuesday, November 10, to stand firm against the idols of their time, at a gathering the Vatican said drew more than a million people. The vigil filled the area around the Monumento de los Españoles in the city's Palermo district, where he had celebrated Mass the day before. In the address published by the Holy See, the Pope named success at any price, money, an obsession with appearance, popularity and the unbridled pursuit of pleasure as idols that demand worship today. He said some people lie, betray or humiliate others on social media to win approval, and that others profit from pleasures such as pornography and various substances that end up enslaving people. Recalling the three young men in the Book of Daniel who refused to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar's statue, he told the crowd: "Do not kneel before what cannot give you life!" He urged them toward confession, prayer, the Gospel and the Eucharist, closed with the gathering's motto, "Go and proclaim", and blessed a cross that is to travel through Argentina's communities. Archbishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva of Buenos Aires opened the vigil with a welcome that pointed to the throwaway culture, poverty and loneliness in the capital and to young people's service in its poor neighborhoods. In testimonies, a 25-year-old man described recovering from drug addiction through the Hogar de Cristo network, and a teacher who volunteers with excluded people asked the Pope how to face frustration when help falls short. The vigil came hours after a Mass in Córdoba and a day after the Buenos Aires Mass that the Vatican said more than 2.5 million faithful attended. The tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru runs from November 6 to 17. On Wednesday the official program has the Pope visiting the Federal Penitentiary Complex of Buenos Aires, celebrating Mass in Luján and holding a farewell ceremony at Ezeiza airport before flying to Lima.