Behind the numbers: Stories from Leo XIV’s largest Mass

An estimated 2.5 million people made Pope Leo XIV’s Mass in Buenos Aires on Monday the largest of his pontificate. Behind that figure were faces, stories and testimonies of faith that filled a historic day.

Access opened at midnight, on a national holiday declared for the apostolic visit, for the Mass at the Monumento a los Españoles in the Palermo neighborhood, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Local artists greeted those who had camped overnight beside the altar, a large structure put up some weeks earlier, under a clear spring sky.

Around 9 a.m., the singer-songwriter Athenas warmed the crowd with familiar Catholic songs. The surprise of the morning was Soledad Pastorutti, who sang her own pieces, including La Viajera and A Don Ata , and closed with religious songs such as Alma Misionera and Oración del Remanso .

The crowd at the Mass with Pope Leo XIV in Buenos Aires, Nov. 9, 2026. | Credit: Julieta Villar/EWTN News

With the streets closed, people walked in the hundreds: families, parish groups, couples, friends and a few onlookers, mixed in with street vendors selling flags, mugs and even images made with artificial intelligence that showed Pope Leo embracing Lionel Messi…