Leo in Montevideo: Is There Room for Him?

At Saturday evening’s prayer vigil in Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario, Pope Leo XIV spoke about “the advance of secularization and an increasingly widespread religious indifference.” Uruguay’s Catholics, he said, have learned what it means to live and proclaim their faith as a minority.

But his examination of conscience was not directed only at secular society. Turning to Bethlehem, he asked whether believers themselves make room for Christ—and allow his word to correct them. Christ comes, but the inn is full.

There is no room inside, so he ends up lying in a manger. Soon Herod will try to kill him, unable to tolerate a reign he cannot control. Something of Bethlehem continues to happen: God can be considered unnecessary, and faith confined to the private sphere, as though it had nothing to contribute to society.

When we try to build a world without God, we run the risk of leaving humanity without a place as well. But none of this changes the reality: that Child is God, and he comes to save us. That “us” includes each and every one of us, for indifference can also creep, little by little, into the lives of those of us who believe.

Bethlehem asks us a simple question: is there room for him? Is there room in our time, in our way of thinking, in our homes? Is there room to listen to him, to receive his forgiveness, to allow his word to correct us?

We need to keep Christ at the center of our lives through prayer, Mass, Confession and the meditative reading of the Gospel. We must all become disciples again and again. If we want others to find Christ, we need to know the way to Bethlehem ourselves first.

— Pope Leo XIV, Prayer Vigil at the Estadio Centenario , November 7, 2026