More than a million youth in Buenos Aires joined Pope Leo XIV in an outdoor prayer vigil on Tuesday night. Another million had turned out that morning for the Pope’s mass in the city of Córdoba. On Nov. 9, some 2.5 million Argentines of all ages had come out for the Pope’s outdoor mass at the Monument to the Spaniards in the nation’s capital, and then today, on the morning of his last day in Argentina, estimates ranged from 2 million to 3.5 million people attending his outdoor mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján, the nation’s patron saint. All told, an estimated 6-8 million Argentines poured onto the streets to see and hear the Pope during his two-and-a-half-day visit, in which he also addressed meetings of public authorities and of leaders of different religions, visited a disability center struggling to stay open because of budget cuts by the Milei government, and spoke to prisoners in a federal penitentiary.

EIR has received a stream of excited messages from friends and readers in Argentina, expressing their joy, and relief, over the pope’s message that they have the God-given capacity to participate in creating a society dedicated to protecting and advancing all of its people, and that doing Good brings far greater happiness than seeking profit. The pope never mentioned the Milei government, which has torn the country apart. That was not his mission, and it was not necessary to do so; everyone understood.

The plight of young people was a constant concern of the pope. “A nation must seriously ask itself where it has failed when its young people have to leave their homeland in order to make their dreams come true,” he said in his address to authorities, diplomats, and leaders of civil society on Nov. 8. With President Javier Milei present—whose government had slashed the budget for education, particularly for public universities and science projects, and sent riot police to violently suppress student and professor protests—Pope Leo continued: “Specifically, creating the conditions for the young freely to plan their future in Argentina means bolstering education, vocational training, universities, and research. Throughout its history, this nation has sought to extend education to ever broader sectors of society. Thanks to that effort, generations of Argentinians have been able to cultivate their abilities and contribute to the country’s development through a wide range of trades and professions.”