Highly secularized Uruguay prepares to welcome Pope Leo XIV

Only a week remains until Pope Leo XIVʼs arrival in Uruguay, and anticipation is growing among locals: For many, it will be their first experience of this kind, while others recall the visit of St. John Paul II in 1987, the last time a pontiff visited the country.

The date is not just another day on the calendar: The Holy Fatherʼs visit to Uruguay coincides with the feast day of the country’s patroness, Our Lady of the Thirty-Three, a figure deeply rooted in the spirituality and history of the most secular republic in the region.

Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Uruguay experienced an unusually harsh process of separating church and state, which is why there are officially no religious holidays or symbols in public institutions. In Uruguay, presidents do not take their oath of office on the Bible, there are no chaplains for the armed forces, Holy Week is referred to as “Tourism Week,” and Christmas is called “Family Day.”

Nevertheless, in anticipation of the pope’s arrival, the Church and the state are currently working side by side and with “great expectation” to welcome him and to offer the best possible experience, explained the archbishop of Montevideo,…