Pope Leo XIV will wrap up his visit to Argentina with two poignant moments on Wednesday — a meeting with inmates at a prison with a history linked to the country’s military dictatorship, and a final Mass at Argentina’s national shrine.
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XIV → wrap → shrine
Both sites have important sentimental connections to Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis.
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sites → have → predecessor
But Leo’s final Argentine stops will pale in comparison to the emotional highlight of his South American trip, when he returns home later Wednesday to Peru.
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he → pale → Peru
A massive national party is planned to greet Leo, who spent over two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru.
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who → plan → Peru
He is known to Peruvians as Padre Robert and is beloved for ministering to poor communities, especially in times of crisis.
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known → know → crisis
A meeting with inmates as Francis did
In Buenos Aires, Leo was scheduled to visit the Devoto Prison, where Francis often ministered when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
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he → do → Aires
Francis celebrated Masses, visited cellblocks housing inmates with AIDS and washed the feet of prisoners during the annual Holy Week ritual.
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Francis → celebrate → ritual
The prison, inaugurated in 1927, is currently undergoing its definitive closure and transfer of its more than 1,000 inmates to a new penitentiary complex.
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prison → inaugurate → complex
During the last military dictatorship (1976–1983), it functioned as a clandestine detention and torture center and was designated as a Memory Site in 2012, to ensure the military repression is not forgotten.
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repression → function → 2012
Human rights activist lawyers have petitioned the courts to prevent any decision involving the sale or disposal of the prison’s land and facilities once all inmates are transferred, saying “the space must be preserved until the investigations regarding the crimes against humanity that occurred” there are finalized.
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that → petition → humanity
In 1978, 65 common prisoners were killed in a massacre that was later named the Masacre del Pabellón Séptimo (Seventh Pavilion Massacre).
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that → kill → massacre
The military dictatorship officially covered up the incident, but the courts proved that it was an act of state violence.
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it → cover → violence
In December 2025, a federal court handed down 25-year prison sentences to former prison chiefs Juan Carlos Ruiz and Horacio Martín Galíndez for the torture inflicted on 153 detainees and the deaths of 65 of them as a result of the fire that broke out during the massacre and the violent repression inflicted on the inmates.
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that → hand → inmates
The convicted men were over 90 years old when they received their sentences.
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they → convict → sentences
Leo has carried on Francis’ legacy of meeting with inmates during his foreign trips, to remind them that they are not alone and are still beloved children of God.
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they → carry → God
His last such visit, at a prison in Equatorial Guinea, provided some of the most chilling moments of his pontificate, when the inmates were forced to sing and dance for him in the pouring rain.
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inmates → provide → rain
After the prison visit, Leo will make a pilgrimage to the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Luján, dedicated to Argentina’s patron saint.
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Leo → make → saint
The municipality of Luján, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires, urged pilgrims to arrive days in advance due to the sheer scale of the event and the extensive security and logistical deployment.
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municipality → urge → event
The basilica hosts one of the greatest demonstrations of faith and religious devotion in Argentina.
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basilica → host → Argentina
Each October, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk there from Buenos Aires and other nearby towns to give thanks or make requests to the Virgin of Luján, to whom Francis was particularly devoted.
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Francis → walk → whom
This year’s pilgrimage took place under persistent rain.
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pilgrimage → take → rain
And yet more than 2.8 million people took part, a record for the shrine, municipal authorities said.
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authorities → take → shrine
The Aporia
