This Sunday, His Holiness will celebrate his second Mass out of Montevideo, this time outside the Cathedral Basilica of Florida, the National Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three.

Located about 100 kilometers from this capital, both the city and the department, which share the name Florida, are considered the “cradle of the Homeland.” They served as the setting for Uruguay’s 1825 Declaration of Independence and are an epicenter of the Catholic faith, home to the veneration of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three, celebrated every November 8.

The “Treinta y Tres Orientales” (Thirty-Three Orientals) were a group of 19th-century revolutionaries led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja and Manuel Oribe. On April 19, 1825, they landed on La Agraciada beach (in present-day Uruguay) to launch a “liberating crusade” against the Brazilian Empire’s rule.

The leader of the Catholic Church celebrated on Saturday his first mass as Pope in the Americas in Paysandu, northwest of here, where he urged the faithful to build bridges, strengthen their communities, and embrace their social role.

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