MONTEVIDEO, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Pope Leo on Saturday urged an estimated 40,000 people, many of whom waited overnight in the rain on the Uruguay-Argentina border for his visit, to bridge their differences as he toured a region marked by sharp political divisions.
Leo, on an ambitious 12-day, three-country tour through November 17, travelled some 750 km (466 miles) back and forth from Montevideo to Paysandu, a riverside economic hub in Uruguay's northwest, where crowds gathered in heavy rain that eased shortly before his arrival.
He was the first pope to visit the city on the Uruguay River, chosen by the Vatican as the location for Leo's first Mass in South America because it is accessible to pilgrims across the region.
The crowd in a sprawling park on the southern edge of the city erupted into cheers and blew loud horns as Leo toured in an open-top popemobile amid blustery winds.
In his sermon, Leo drew inspiration from the nearby General Artigas International Bridge, which connects Uruguay and Argentina.
"It is not difficult to imagine the benefits a bridge brings: openness, communication and exchange. That is why it is so important to be builders of bridges!" he said.
"This is the vocation to which we are all called: to build bridges, strengthen bonds, unite, communicate."
After returning to Montevideo for an evening vigil at Centenary Stadium, a soccer venue better known for sporting events than religious gatherings, Leo was greeted by a crowd estimated by the Vatican at about 100,000 people chanting, "Pope Leo, we love you so much."
Mathias Franco, 18, who was there with two friends, said the turnout was striking in a country known for its strong secular tradition. A survey in Uruguay by polling firm Cifra found just a third of adults identify as Catholic — exceptionally low for Latin America — while another 28% believe in God but do not feel affiliated with any religion.
"We're always told this is the most secular country in Latin America, but events like this show something different," he said. "I see this visit as a big opportunity for Uruguay, for us to grow as a community."
Inside the stadium, folk music greeted pilgrims as they streamed in, creating an atmosphere that felt more like a concert than a prayer vigil.
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The 71-year-old pontiff is making one of the most demanding foreign trips by a Catholic leader in decades less than a month after undergoing lung cancer surgery.
Leo, the first US-born pope, is visiting Uruguay, one of Latin America's more stable democracies, until Sunday on the first stop of a tour that will also take him to Argentina and Peru.
The Vatican has described the trip as a "homecoming" for Leo, who served as a missionary in Peru for decades and became a Peruvian citizen.
The pope, who has forcefully decried the direction of global leadership in recent months, is expected to address a range of issues facing the continent on the tour, including environmental destruction, arms trafficking and regional political instability.
POPE VISITS TROUBLED MONTEVIDEO NEIGHBORHOOD
Leo on Saturday afternoon made a visit to Casavalle, a neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Montevideo scarred by violence and drug-related crime.
The pope walked among makeshift houses with corrugated metal roofing and unfinished construction projects then listened to local residents, including a mother who cried as she recounted raising a child while homeless.
Leo gave the woman a hug and in his own remarks urged Uruguayans to "shake off" apathy towards poverty and inequality and help those in need. "We cannot ignore the many people around us who are suffering," he said.
Pablo Coimbra, pastor of a church near where Leo visited, told Reuters before the pope's arrival that he hoped Leo would lift the spirits of a community that often feels overlooked.
"It is an area forgotten by governments and institutions," Coimbra said of the neighborhood, classified as a police "red" zone, where residents often hear gunfire amid territorial disputes between drug dealers.
The pope wraps up his Uruguay visit on Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon he heads to Argentina, where he will give a speech to President Javier Milei, a libertarian seen as a close ally of US President Donald Trump, who lambasted Leo earlier this year after the pope criticized the Iran war.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee and Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo; additional reporting by Daniela Desantis in Asunción and Mariana Nedelcu, Yara Nardi and Alejandro Obaldia in Paysandu; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Tomasz Janowski, Cynthia and Alistair Bell)
