Pope Leo XIV Urges Families to Persevere in Passing Down the Faith During Uruguay Visit
During his apostolic journey to Uruguay, Pope Leo XIV visited the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three to address the challenges faced by Catholic families. He specifically encouraged mothers and grandmothers to remain steadfast in sharing their faith, drawing inspiration from the perseverance of St. Monica. The Pope further called upon fathers and grandfathers to serve as active models of faith through their daily actions, prayer, and integrity. Addressing a crowd of approximately 50,000, he offered comfort to those whose loved ones have drifted from religious practice. The visit concluded with the Pope placing a golden rose before the Virgin Mary, emphasizing the importance of Christ as the primary mediator.
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Pope Leo XIV urged Catholic parents and grandparents in Uruguay to keep transmitting the faith with patience and hope, even when children or grandchildren stop practicing. At an outdoor Mass on Nov. 8 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three, he also called on fathers to model prayer and integrity, and on all Catholics to bring others closer to Christ. 1
Leo acknowledged the pain of parents whose children no longer pray or attend Mass, and of grandparents uncertain whether their efforts to teach the faith had endured. He pointed to St. Monica, who continued praying for her son, St. Augustine, and urged families not to give up on loved ones who seem distant from God. 1
He called on mothers and grandmothers to pass on the faith through both words and example, and to keep praying, blessing and accompanying their families without harshness or discouragement. “There are doors that you cannot open, but God can,” he said.
The pope also addressed fathers and grandfathers, urging them to show young people that faith has a real place in family life. He said children learn from seeing their fathers pray, receive the sacraments, treat their wives with respect, ask forgiveness and live with integrity. 1
Leo extended his appeal beyond families, urging Catholics to approach people in their daily lives, listen to their questions and bring them to Christ. He named children, friends, neighbors and people who had stopped believing—or had never had someone close to speak with them about God—as possible recipients of that outreach. 1
The Mass took place in a country described by EWTN as among Latin America’s most secular; its report said 28% of Uruguayans identify as atheist or agnostic. Leo connected his appeal to the country’s Catholic history and to the tradition of mothers and grandmothers teaching children to pray and practice Christian charity. 1
The pope celebrated Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Florida, which houses the image of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three. The small wooden image is associated with the 33 patriots who sought Uruguay’s independence from Brazil in 1825 and turned to Mary for her intercession. 1
Leo said the patriots’ appeal to Mary recalled that the history of peoples cannot be fully understood without reference to God. At the shrine, he renewed Uruguay’s consecration to the Virgin Mary, a consecration first made by St. John Paul II in 1988. 1
Leo also presented Marian devotion as centered on Christ, saying that Mary’s greatness rests on her relationship with him and that she leads others to him. At the end of Mass, he placed a golden rose before the image of the Virgin. 1
The Mass was the final public event of Leo’s visit to Uruguay. He was scheduled to travel to Argentina afterward, continuing his South American journey, which also included a planned visit to Peru. 1*
Family faith transmission and perseverance amid religious disaffiliation
Family faith transmission remains possible amid religious disaffiliation, but it can no longer be treated as automatic. The Catholic response is neither to blame parents for every child’s choices nor to give up when a son or daughter drifts from the Church. It is to make faith visible and livable at home, keep relationships open, and join the family’s witness to the continuing support of the Church.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith describes the family as “the first and most essential place” for transmitting faith. Its examples are ordinary but significant: Timothy’s faith was present in his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice before it was his own. Faith is handed on through relationships and habits as well as through formal instruction.
This central role does not mean parents can determine what their children will eventually believe. Catholic teaching presents faith as something offered and nurtured, not mechanically transferred. Pope Francis says parents should adapt to children’s stages of growth and recognize that spiritual experience “is not imposed but freely proposed.” The credibility of a parent’s example matters: children need to see that prayer is important to their parents, not merely hear that it ought to be important to them.
That distinction is important when a young person disaffiliates. Parents have a real responsibility to introduce children to Christ and form them in the faith, but they do not control a child’s conscience or guarantee a particular adult outcome. Perseverance means continuing to witness and to love without treating faith as a technique for securing compliance.
The Church’s concern is that religious practice within the home has weakened in many places, even where Catholic identity remains culturally familiar. The Dicastery describes a breakdown in intergenerational transmission, especially in societies shaped by secularization. Some parents no longer bring children for Baptism or teach them to pray; in other families, the faith may persist chiefly through rites of passage rather than as a living relationship with Christ.
The change is not simply that young people encounter new ideas. Pope John Paul II noted that adolescents can be pulled toward different visions of life by their surrounding culture, school, and media, making both faith transmission and dialogue between generations more difficult. The USCCB also observes that detachment from religious communities may begin as early as pre-adolescence, and that some young people have been hurt or ignored in their families or by Church leaders.
That last point matters pastorally. Disaffiliation should not be explained only as youthful rebellion or a failure of parental effort. The sources identify broader cultural pressures, gaps in religious practice at home, and experiences of hurt or neglect. A response that listens to the young person’s actual reasons is more likely to serve them than one that assumes those reasons in advance.
A key implication is that receiving Catholic sacraments or observing religious customs, though meaningful, is not by itself the same as forming a lived relationship with Christ. The Pontifical Council for Culture warned that Christian rites can be followed as cultural expressions while the personal experience of faith is weak or missing. The challenge, then, is not simply to preserve outward practice, but to connect prayer, worship, family life, and moral decisions with belief in Christ.
The Dicastery captures the change plainly:
Ultimately, all these accounts indicate that a sort of "automatic" transmission of the faith has ceased to exist.
This does not mean that families have lost their capacity to pass on faith. It means that the old assumption—that the surrounding culture, family habits, and parish life will naturally reinforce one another—can no longer be relied upon in every setting. The same document describes different local realities: in some places grandparents help fill gaps in home catechesis; elsewhere work and career pressures leave spiritual formation to grandparents or to media used privately.
The implication is practical: faith needs to be spoken, practised, and shared intentionally. The Pontifical Council for Culture recommends devoting time to family life, because relationships provide the setting in which Christian values and ways of seeing the world can take root. It also encourages parents to engage with what children watch and to discuss it with them, rather than allowing media to displace conversation.
Perseverance is not limited to urging a child to attend church or repeating arguments about religion. It can include shared prayer, family devotions, conversation about Scripture, service to others, participation in the Eucharist, and regular use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The USCCB identifies these as practices through which parents and guardians can pass on love of God’s Word, community service, Catholic devotions, and sacramental life.
The form should suit the child’s age and situation. Pope Francis emphasizes that children may learn through symbols, actions, and stories, while adolescents often respond poorly to an approach centred only on authority and rules. He commends attractive and credible testimony, and especially the example of parents who pray themselves. This is not a call to make faith entertaining at any cost. It is a reminder that a young person must encounter faith as something lived and intelligible, not merely as a list of demands.
For parents whose children have already drifted away, perseverance also means preserving a relationship in which honest conversation remains possible. Francis specifically expresses gratitude for mothers who continue to pray for children who have strayed from Christ. Prayer does not guarantee a particular timetable or outcome, but it can keep love from being reduced to pressure and place the child before God without abandoning hope.
The responsibility does not rest on parents alone. The Dicastery stresses the need for deep integration between family and Church: Baptism joins the family’s role to the Church’s role in introducing a child to Christ and supporting the child’s growth in faith. Young people, especially during difficult and formative years, should experience the continuing closeness of both family and Church.
Grandparents can be important participants in that work. The Dicastery notes that they sometimes help compensate for gaps in catechesis at home, while the USCCB likewise highlights the importance of parents and grandparents in passing on faith between generations. This is not a reason to leave the task to grandparents, but a reminder that faith transmission can be sustained by a wider network of relationships.
The broader pastoral lesson is therefore one of patient, shared witness. Families cannot recreate a supposedly automatic transmission that no longer exists; they can make faith concrete in daily life, listen when young people question or withdraw, and seek the support of the parish community. Disaffiliation is a serious challenge, but the Catholic sources do not counsel despair. They call for renewed family practice, credible example, intergenerational support, and continued accompaniment.