The Argentine Church is now wondering how to channel the popular fervor that arose from the visit of Leon XIV.

Pope Leo XIV left Argentina with a powerful message. During his homily at the massive Mass in front of the Basilica of Luján, he called for reconciliation and urged the building of "bridges of charity and networks of solidarity." The gestures and speeches that Robert Francis Prevost delivered during his historic visit to the country challenged both the political leadership and the Church itself. Local clergy admit that from now on they will face the challenge of channeling the popular fervor that the Pope's visit sparked in the streets of Argentina. In other words, transforming popular mobilization and enthusiasm into active pastoral commitment within Catholic ranks. Still impacted by the millions of Argentines who crowded the Masses in Palermo, Córdoba, and Luján to hear and venerate Leo XIV, the bishops acknowledge that they will have to take on the task of steering the resurgence of spirituality and the practice of the faith. As happens in politics, the Church that received Prevost also carries internal differences. In recent years, its voice had lost weight and influence in public debate. Within the Episcopate, it was understood that the papal trip meant a trial by fire. Since 1987, when John Paul II last visited the country, the Catholic Church had not had an opportunity to display its power to draw crowds. "It is difficult to measure the impact that Leo XIV's visit will have, but as a Church we have the responsibility to make the Pope's gestures and speeches bear fruit," said the Archbishop of La Plata and president of Cáritas, Bishop Gustavo Carrara. In ecclesiastical circles, the prevailing idea is that the forcefulness and depth of Leo XIV's messages will allow the bishops to strengthen the Church's agenda, focused on the challenges of poverty and social exclusion and on the call for dialogue to overcome divisions in the country. In his messages, the pontiff urged people to "recognize those who think differently," called for revaluing social policy, and said that people with disabilities and special needs are not a burden but a blessing. Leo XIV's words achieved an ordering effect. During the trip, the Pope was able to consolidate his leadership without hiding the legacy of Francis. Facing a Church that retains the imprint of Jorge Bergoglio, Leo XIV highlighted the figure of his predecessor and emphasized his line of thought. In his address to business leaders, unionists, and social leaders at the Argentine Catholic University (UCA), the Pope renewed the call for "the three T's: land, housing, and work." In Córdoba, he asked that the Church "keep stirring things up." And, as he bid farewell after the massive Mass in Luján, he left a significant phrase: "This country now has two Popes, one who was born here and another by adoption." After the striking days, the bishops highlighted the Pope's gestures. "We must thank the Holy Father for his courage, his simplicity, his depth, his elegant way of speaking, his evangelical style, without fears, for returning to the essential things, with admirable simplicity and profundity," the military bishop, Bishop Santiago Olivera, told LA NACIÓN. Leo XIV, during the Mass in Luján. Within the Episcopate, they also value that he highlighted the fundamental pillars of the Church's social doctrine, such as the dignity of the human person, the common good, the universal destination of goods, solidarity, and subsidiarity. The visit to the Pequeño Cottolengo Don Orione, where 410 people with disabilities live, had strong symbolic value. Within the Episcopate, they believe it allowed them to make visible the Church's role in social care, an expression of its capillarity in caring for the most marginalized. In fact, the massive celebration in front of the Basilica of Luján was framed as "the Mass of charity." That is why the Church sought to give a preferential place, near the altar, to people experiencing vulnerability. The organization was in the hands of Cáritas pastoral workers. The strategic Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral Care had pressured the government in recent months over cuts to disability funding and delays in the handling of the bill against gambling addiction, which is close to losing its parliamentary status. Overcoming divisions. In his farewell, Leo XIV once again presented himself as an unwavering defender of dialogue. He called on Argentines to work to overcome divisions and to unite to tackle social demands. To encourage the faithful, the Pope repeated a phrase that John Paul II had used in 1982, at the end of the Falklands War and before the return of democracy. "Argentina, rise up and walk," Leo XIV emphasized. In the Church's leadership, they say they now face the challenge of deepening and taking on Leo XIV's counsel. "In the coming days and months, we owe ourselves a more careful reading of the Pope's messages," said the president of the Episcopal Conference, Bishop Marcelo Colombo, considering that the Pope's pastoral visit was "a great invitation to joy, to hope, and to the communion of the Argentine people." Leo XIV. Sebastián Salguero. In dialogue with LA NACIÓN, Carrara said the Pope called for fostering greater dialogue and listening, and "for caring for the most fragile." "That can be a good meeting point. Beyond our differences, we must not forget the motivating message: caring for fragility, which means people with disabilities, work, and young people," the head of Cáritas emphasizes. For Bishop Olivera, the Pope's gestures and words left a lesson: "Of course we can work together, of course we can have policies in common, of course we can have goals that call to all of us and that we all move toward, beyond our differences and ways of thinking." Encouraged by the pontiff's words, he concluded: "This has been a training exercise so that we can face problems together in the future, without pettiness and without selfishness. May we live this spirit that Leo XIV came to instill in us and rekindle, to give us back a vision that transcends us." In the same vein, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge García Cuerva, considered that the Pope's visit left much work and much commitment. "This mobilization and this missionary drive that the Holy Father gave us will have to be translated into concrete daily reality," García Cuerva said. On Tuesday, after Leo XIV's massive Mass at the site of the Argentine Aircraft Factory, Cardinal Vicente Bokalic, Archbishop of Santiago del Estero and primate of Argentina, warned that Leo XIV's presence caused an injection of morale into the Church. "When the Pope leaves, there will be much work to do. We have already discussed this in the Episcopate and, together with the people, we will study these guidelines," Bokalic pointed out, remarks that were echoed on the Vatican News portal, the official voice of the Holy See. By Matías Moreno and Mariano De Vedia