In Uruguay, Pope Leo XIV deplores the social costs of violent crime

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Pope Leo XIV, speaking to residents of a disadvantaged neighborhood in Uruguay’s capital on Nov. 7, drew attention to one of Latin America’s most urgent social problems: violent crime.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that there are children in Uruguay who do not go to school for fear of never returning home,” the pope said.

“In a country as rich in resources as this, children should never have to go to bed hungry or be denied the chance of a decent education and a dignified future because of the insecurity that reigns in the streets. Much less should they have to suffer violence to the point of losing their lives.”

Leo made his remarks in a speech to members of a Catholic parish in Casavalle, a lower-income neighborhood in northern Montevideo.

Violent crime is a pressing problem across Latin America, much of it driven by the drug trade and other organized crime. UN figures put the homicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean at roughly four times the global level, the highest of any world region.

In his brief talk, Leo cited Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), emphasizing that the man helped by the Samaritan was a…