The visit of Pope Leo XIV in Uruguay, live | The Pope asks that AI empower the worker and not reduce him to a “dispensable piece”

Leo XIV warns about suicides, which he attributes to "loneliness, anguish and loss of hope"

In Uruguay, a country that has one of the highest suicide rates in Latin America, Leo XIV referred to the issue and maintained that "no one should feel strange among their own or think that their absence matters less than their presence." According to official data, in 2025 the suicide rate in Uruguay was 19.16 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

"Loneliness, anguish and loss of hope can become so profound that a person stops finding reasons to continue living," he said in his first speech on South American soil. "Faced with the painful reality of suicide, health care, family ties and the closeness of the community are inseparable," he added.

Leo XIV warns about the use of artificial intelligence

In the first speech of his tour of South America, the Pope emphasized the need to provide children with "an adequate education" and has also warned about the use of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.

"Caring for the little ones includes ensuring them an adequate education. The home in which a child grows up, the food he receives, the presence of the adults who accompany him, sustain him during his first years. Education prolongs this task, develops his abilities, forms his judgment and prepares him to participate freely and responsibly in the life of society," said Leo XIV in Plaza Independencia.

He also said that education offers "concrete opportunities" for job placement. "Work thus becomes one of the channels that allow each person to develop their capabilities and contribute to the good of others. It is worth remembering that work is a function of man and not man is a function of work."

In this context, it has introduced one of its central concerns, the uses of artificial intelligence and the risks it poses for workers: "This criterion retains all its relevance in the face of rapid changes in technology and artificial intelligence," he remarked. "The development of these technologies must expand human capabilities, facilitate tasks and create new possibilities, ensuring that the person who works is not reduced to a simple dispensable piece within the production process."

The Pope highlights the role of Mercosur and regional cooperation

In his speech before the president and authorities of Uruguay, Leo XIV highlighted peace and the search for agreements as ways to resolve differences. In that sense, he has valued the role of Mercosur, whose secretariat is based in Uruguayan territory.

"The coexistence between people of different origins and traditions is also part of the history of Uruguay," said the Pope from the stage set up in front of Plaza Independencia, where thousands of people listened to him. "This plurality is expressed today in the beliefs and convictions of its citizens. The secular character of the State is called to guarantee a space in which believers and non-believers can live together with freedom and respect, because there are values ​​that are universal."

From that statement, Leo cooperation in the region. In times when differences can easily become a reason for confrontation, persevering in respect for the law, in negotiation and in the patient search for agreements constitutes a service that Uruguay can continue to offer to its neighbors," the Pontiff highlighted.

Since the beginning of his papacy last year, Leo XIV has advocated for peace and the cessation of war conflicts at a global level, as well as the need to improve social coexistence and avoid polarization.

Leo XIV demonstrates against abortion, legal in Uruguay since 2012

In his first speech on South American soil, Leo "He who has not yet been born already belongs to the human family and to the future of his people," he said, and received candid applause from the crowd in this section.

The Pope, who used different figures that appear on the friezes of the Artigas monument to refer to different actors, mentioned a woman holding a baby closely in her arms. "This gesture of protection leads us to think about the life that is beginning, also that which is still growing in the mother's womb. His absolute dependence on the mother does not diminish the dignity that corresponds to him or the protection that he deserves," he said.

The Pontiff pointed out the need for "the father to be committed alongside the mother" in the arrival of a new child, as well as "for the family to provide its support and for social conditions to exist that allow both to raise and care for their children."

Leo XIV: "I am proud to be an American and to have voted"

Pope Leo XIV claimed this Friday his right to vote in the midterm elections held on Tuesday in the United States. "I am proud to be an American and to exercise my right," said the pontiff, born in Chicago, when answering questions from journalists during the flight for his tour in Latin America that will take him to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

He also added that in Peru you cannot vote by mail, but that if he could "he would have done it too," since he has the nationality of that country, where he lived for 20 years as a missionary and as bishop of Chiclayo.

This is the first time that it has been known and confirmed that a pontiff exercises the right to vote in elections in his country of origin.

The Pope talks about his health: "I feel quite well"

The Pope began his tour of South America this Friday just a month after having undergone an operation to remove a malignant tumor in his lung. "I know that some had doubts about whether this trip would ever take place. However, from the first day I was fully convinced that it should take place," Leo XIV told journalists traveling with him on the papal plane. "I thank God. Thanks to the excellent medical care I have, I feel quite well," he added. The secret of his recovery, he confessed, is "faith in God, good doctors and a healthy life."

Robert Prevost, born in the United States, spent 20 years of his life in Peru as a missionary and bishop and defines that country, the final leg of his tour, as "a second home." "I feel very happy to be able to return," he said during the flight. He stressed that he misses from Latin America "the fervor, the expression of the people's faith and the way of living as Christians."

The Pope recalled "that the main reason for this trip is to continue the mission of the Bishop of Rome, sharing the joy of the Gospel and announcing the Good News. We must walk alongside the people, expressing that closeness that they so need (...), since today they seek with special longing for a message of hope."

Leo XIV lands in Montevideo

Leo XIV is already in South America, the continent where he served as bishop and to which he now returns for the first time as Pope. The plane landed at 4:20 p.m. this Friday in Montevideo, the first stop on an eleven-day tour that will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. It had been almost four decades since a pontiff had visited this southern tip of America, not even in Argentina, the homeland of Francis, his predecessor.

It starts in one of the most secular countries on the continent, but where you will find a Government compatible with your preaching in favor of social justice, the defense of the weakest and coexistence as an antidote to polarization. The meeting with the Uruguayan president, Yamandú Orsi, is scheduled for this Friday, after a first public appearance in the Plaza de la Independencia, which began to fill with parishioners after noon.

South American Catholics held their breath a month ago when Leo XIV underwent surgery to remove lung adenocarcinoma. The announcement that he had recovered and the tour was going ahead resumed preparations to see him. In total, it will total 31,000 kilometers, travel through ten cities, take 14 flights and give nearly 40 speeches.

This Friday, in addition to meeting with the political and religious authorities, Leo XIV will receive the Key to the city of Montevideo in the Cabildo and will cross the square surrounded by a human cordon of children towards the Cathedral. The tour will continue tomorrow with a tour of Casavalle - one of the poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of Montevideo -, a mass mass in the city of Paysandú and a meeting with the world of education at the Argentine Catholic University. The high point of the pastoral visit will be the mass celebrated on Sunday in Florida, the city that houses the Virgin of the Thirty-Three, the highest religious figure of Uruguay and patron saint of the country.

From Uruguay he will leave for Argentina, a stopover that will be marked by the memory of Francisco and by the meeting with Javier Milei, Donald Trump's most unconditional ally on the continent and speaker of his far-right policies. Milei, who had described Francisco as "representative of the Evil One on Earth" before arriving at the Presidency, took a big turn when arriving at the Casa Rosada and has put in charge of the preparations for the visit the person he most trusts, his sister and secretary of the Presidency Karina Milei.

The final leg of the tour will be Peru, the country that American-born Robert Prevost adopted as his own and where he was a missionary and bishop. He will stay there for six days, the longest stopover, and has numerous activities planned that will allow him to reconnect with his people.