Pope Leo calls on Uruguay's Catholics to be 'bridge builders'

Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics in Uruguay, Latin America's most secular country, to be "bridge builders" for the faith on Saturday and praised the favourite local brew, mate, on the second day of his South American tour.

Just three weeks after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, the 71-year-old pontiff has embarked on a 12-day tour of the continent where he served nearly two decades as a missionary.

Latin America is the world's most Catholic continent but the number of people who define themselves as Catholic has plummeted in the past 30 years, from 80 percent to 55 percent, a Latinobarometro poll showed.

In the northwestern city of Paysandu, Leo urged Uruguayans to be "bridge builders" and "share the joy" of their faith.

Watch moreA Green pope? Vatican describes environmental destruction as an 'ecological sin'

He drew applause as he paid homage to the local tradition of sharing a herbal infusion called mate (pronounced ma-tay), sipped from a gourd with a metal straw.

Mate "teaches us to share and be together", the pope told thousands of faithful who braved early morning drizzle for the mass in a park, many clutching one of the hot drinks.

"Mate has even made its way to Rome," Leo joked.

Gladys Soria, 81, travelled to the mass with her daughter Adela from a small town around 50 kilometres away.

Soria told AFP she had recently undergone surgery and could barely walk but "found the strength to come".

'Live with dignity'

On Sunday afternoon the pope heads to his predecessor Francis's homeland of Argentina, where he will ⁠meet and give a speech to President Javier Milei, a self-proclaimed "anarcho-capitalist" seen as a close ally of US ⁠President Donald Trump. Trump publicly ​lambasted Leo earlier this year after the pope criticised the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Leo will then travel on to Peru, where he served as bishop and which claims the pope as one of its own.

Leo took Peruvian citizenship during his many years in the Andean country.

On Friday, in the first speech of his tour, delivered in a half-empty square in Montevideo, he advocated for universal healthcare.

His own lung cancer diagnosis made him think of the "many men and women" who do not receive a timely diagnosis or treatment, he said.

Leo's speech also stressed the importance of supporting those whose physical or mental suffering cannot be eased.

Without referring specifically to euthanasia, which was legalised in Uruguay last year, he said each person should be supported to "live with dignity, receive the care they need, and be accompanied until the natural end of his or her life".

Liberal Uruguay's decision to make assisted suicide legal has been fiercely contested by the Catholic Church.

The pope said the Church wanted to "alleviate suffering whenever possible" and impress upon the sick that "their lives always retain meaning".

Leo's visit to Uruguay is the first to the country by a pope in the nearly four decades.

He will return to Montevideo on Saturday afternoon to visit Casavalle, the neighborhood with the highest homicide rate in the capital, as well as the Catholic University and the Centenario Stadium, where he will preside over a prayer vigil for 60,000 people.