Montevideo (AFP) – It is one of the poorest and most dangerous places in Uruguay.

Published on: 01/11/2026 - 10:18

In the Casavalle district, on the outskirts of the capital Montevideo, the Catholic Church and evangelicals are working together, without visible rivalry, for the coming of the pope, a "tremendous opportunity" for this "lost corner of the world".

Leo

This is not a trivial visit: Casavalle is a neighborhood undermined by drug consumption and gang violence linked to drug trafficking.

– “Great opportunity” –

The Pope is awaited there with exultant joy by the Catholics, and more discreetly by a growing evangelical community, which sees no problem with his visit.

“We are going to be seen and heard thanks to the coming of the Pope,” Janet De Leon, a practicing Catholic, rejoiced to AFP after attending a mass at the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church.

“A person who has always felt marginalized, whatever their religion or lack of religion, feels important, taken into account on this occasion,” adds Father Pablo Coimbra, in charge of the parish, to give the measure of the papal visit.

Leo XIV will meet the community in front of the pretty brick building. A few days before the event, workers are working against the clock to build the stage that will welcome the sovereign pontiff.

The priest admits to having difficulty realizing that Francis' successor comes "to a neighborhood as humble as this one, in a lost corner of the world."

A few blocks from the church, evangelical pastor Javier Roque highlights the neighborhood's vulnerabilities.

While visiting several members of his religious community, he believes that the pope's arrival will perhaps bring people closer to God.

In any case, it will be “a fantastic opportunity” for the neighborhood to benefit from improvements, he assures.

– “The same God” –

Both the priest and the pastor agree that many residents find in their churches and temples "a refuge" and "an embrace" necessary to survive in an area where poverty rates far exceed the national average.

According to official figures for the first half of 2026, 14.8% of the 3.5 million inhabitants of Uruguay, considered one of the most stable economies in Latin America, live below the poverty line.

Between narrow dirt streets and precarious homes, Laura Lemos says she found a refuge in the evangelical church El Camino, led by Pastor Roque, when crime threatened to destroy her family.

Aged 41 and mother of three boys aged 24, 21 and 19, she remembers her anguish when the youngest was imprisoned.

My sons “are alive today, thanks to God and also thanks to the support we received from the church,” assures this seller.

Ms. Lemos rejects the idea of ​​a rivalry between Catholics and evangelicals. “It’s the same God in a different place, right?” she asks.

A neighbor, aged 29, explains that faith got him out of delinquency, even if he no longer goes to church. “God is with everyone,” wants to believe this man, who introduces himself and is known in the neighborhood as “Polish Rodriguez.”

The pope's visit "will serve as a reminder that we are not as forgotten as we think," this young father of six, who makes a living from small informal jobs, told AFP.

– Coexistence –

According to a recent survey on religiosity, 35% of Uruguayans declare themselves Catholic. “Other Christians”, including evangelicals, represent 13%, and other religions 7%.

For their part, agnostics or atheists are 29%, while 15% do not wish to respond, according to the polling institute Equipos Consultores.

In this very fragmented landscape, Father Coimbra highlights coexistence between Uruguayans, beyond their faith.

“I am part of this culture, of the secular culture, and I feel very identified with my country and not at all uncomfortable,” he says, emphasizing that “there is no hostility” towards his Church.

For Aidé Carrasco, 51, who says he practices Umbanda (a syncretic cult from Brazil including beliefs of African origin), the arrival of Leo XIV "whether for marketing or out of devotion, helps the neighborhood, because it improves it on many levels."

“Everything that is progress, it doesn’t matter where it comes from, but let it come,” she emphasizes.

© 2026 AFP

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