Pope Leo XIV Visits Buenos Aires Prison on Final Day of Argentina Tour
The visit to Devoto prison, where demolition is planned, signals the new pontiff's public prioritization of outreach to incarcerated populations during his first Latin American tour.
Pope Leo XIV visited the Devoto prison in Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning, the final scheduled stop of his tour of Argentina, according to La Nacion. The visit marked a deliberate choice to close the papal visit at a correctional facility rather than a religious or governmental venue.
The pope was received at the prison by Argentina's Minister of National Security, Alejandra Monteoliva, and Minister of Justice Juan Bautista Mahiques, according to La Nacion. Approximately 70 detainees who remain at Devoto, pending transfer to the Marcos Paz Penitentiary Complex, were present for the visit.
The Devoto facility is scheduled for demolition once the remaining inmates are relocated to Marcos Paz, according to La Nacion. The timing of the papal visit placed it among the final uses of the historic prison before its planned closure and destruction.
During the visit, the pope listened to a testimony from a 29-year-old detainee named Cristian, who has been held at Devoto since an unspecified date, La Nacion reported. The specific content of Cristian's testimony was not fully reproduced in available reporting.
Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Garcia Cuerva accompanied Pope Leo XIV throughout the prison visit and delivered a speech to the assembled detainees and members of Argentina's national cabinet, according to La Nacion. Garcia Cuerva spoke on what he described as the importance of forgiveness and referenced the ongoing prisoner transfer to Marcos Paz.
The archbishop's remarks included the phrase 'it is always possible to get back up,' according to La Nacion's transcript of his speech. Cabinet members were among those present in the audience, though La Nacion did not specify which ministers attended beyond those named in the reception.
The Devoto prison visit followed a large youth gathering the previous evening at the Monumento de los Espanoles in Buenos Aires, where Pope Leo XIV addressed a crowd described by La Nacion as numbering in the millions. At the conclusion of that event, a choir performed the Argentine religious song 'Alma Misionera,' and the pope joined in singing portions of the song, according to La Nacion.
The Argentina tour represents one of the first international pastoral visits of Leo XIV's pontificate. The specific full itinerary and total duration of the tour were not detailed in reporting available as of November 11, 2026.
Pope Francis, Leo XIV's predecessor, was himself Argentine and maintained a close public association with Buenos Aires and its social institutions throughout his papacy, which lasted from 2013 until his death. Leo XIV's decision to include Argentina as an early international destination carries symbolic weight given that history, though the Vatican has not issued a formal statement linking the two in available sources.
The combination of a mass youth vigil and a prison visit reflects a pastoral pattern also associated with Francis, who made frequent visits to correctional institutions and emphasized prison ministry as a formal expression of Catholic social teaching. Whether Leo XIV intends to formalize similar programming into his pontificate's regular calendar is not stated in available reporting and would require a Vatican announcement to confirm.