Pope Leo XIV draws huge crowds in Córdoba after record Buenos Aires mass

Pope Leo XIV urged Argentines on Tuesday to follow the holy example of the country’s best-known saints, as an estimated 650,000 people gathered in the central city of Córdoba for Mass.The crowd came a day after an estimated 2.5 million people turned out to see the Pope in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, on Monday.Faithful from all over Argentina drove for hours to attend the service, arriving from the far north of the country, from Patagonia in the south and from points in between.Córdoba was chosen to host the Pope because of its central location. The city had gone nearly 40 years without a papal visit.They include St. José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, known as the “ Gaucho priest,” and “Mama Antula,” who in 2024 became Argentina’s first female saint. They were both canonised by the Argentine Pope Francis.“We are all called to holiness,” he said. “These saints and blessed have already fulfilled their mission on Earth. Today, it is our turn to follow the radiant example of holiness they have left with us.”After Mass, Leo surprised the crowds with a brief appearance on the balcony of the archbishop’s residence in downtown Córdoba, the same balcony from which St. John Paul II greeted Córdoba in 1987. Thousands of people chanting “León, León” packed the street below.