Luján municipal authorities reported a record pilgrimage exceeding 2.8 million people
Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to meet inmates at Devoto Prison in Buenos Aires on Wednesday and later return to Peru, according to The Associated Press. After the prison visit, Leo is scheduled to celebrate a final Mass at the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Luján, Argentina’s national shrine. The Associated Press described the two stops as poignant moments that will pale in comparison to the trip’s emotional highlight: Leo’s return home to Peru later Wednesday.
Both sites have important sentimental connections to Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis. A massive national party is planned to greet Leo in Peru, where he spent over two decades as a missionary priest and bishop. Peruvians know him as Padre Robert, and The Associated Press reported that he is beloved for ministering to poor communities, especially in times of crisis.
Devoto Prison has a direct history with Pope Francis. When Francis was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he often ministered at the prison, celebrated Masses, visited cellblocks housing inmates with AIDS and washed the feet of prisoners during the annual Holy Week ritual.
Devoto Prison was inaugurated in 1927 and is now undergoing a definitive closure, with more than 1,000 inmates being transferred to a new penitentiary complex. During Argentina’s last military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, the prison functioned as a clandestine detention and torture center. It was designated a Memory Site in 2012 to ensure the military repression is not forgotten.
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. They argued that “the space must be preserved” until investigations into the crimes against humanity that occurred there are finalized.
In 1978, 65 common prisoners were killed in the massacre later named the Masacre del Pabellón Séptimo, or Seventh Pavilion Massacre. The military dictatorship officially covered up the incident, but the courts proved that it was an act of state 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. Both men were over 90 years old when they received their sentences.
Leo has carried on Francis’s legacy of meeting with inmates during his foreign trips, to remind them that they are not alone and are still beloved children of God. His last such visit, at a prison in Equatorial Guinea, included inmates being forced to sing and dance for him in the pouring rain — scenes The Associated Press described as some of the most chilling moments of his pontificate.
After the prison visit, Leo will make a pilgrimage to the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Luján, which is dedicated to Argentina’s patron saint. The municipality of Luján, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires, urged pilgrims to arrive days in advance because of the sheer scale of the event and the extensive security and logistical deployment.
The basilica hosts what The Associated Press describes as one of the greatest demonstrations of faith and religious devotion in Argentina. Each October, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk to the basilica from Buenos Aires and other nearby towns to give thanks or make requests to the Virgin of Luján, to whom Francis was particularly devoted.
This year’s pilgrimage took place under persistent rain, and municipal authorities said more than 2.8 million people took part, a record for the shrine.
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