“Mothers and grandmothers: Never tire of passing on the faith!” Pope Leo told a congregation in the square outside the cathedral of Florida, a city in south-central Uruguay. “Even if your loved ones seem far from God, continue to place them before him. Do not stop blessing them, accompanying them, and simply reminding them of what they once received.” He linked the figure of Mary to the tradition of mothers and grandmothers teaching children how to pray and “live out Christian charity. “I know that many of you carry a very specific sorrow. You taught your children to pray, and today they no longer do so. You used to attend Mass together, and it has been years since they entered a church. You spoke to your grandchildren about God, and now you do not know if those words left a mark. Sometimes you wonder if you did something wrong or if it was all futile,” Pope Leo said. He encouraged them with the example of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine, the inspiration for Pope Leo’s religious order, who never despaired of her son’s eventual conversion and sanctity. The pope also urged fathers and grandfathers to foster faith in the young. “Children learn a great deal by seeing that their father can kneel before God without feeling that he is any less of a man doing it,” he said. Pope Leo concluded by urging all Uruguayan Catholics to evangelize in their daily lives. “You must enter people’s homes once more, draw near to them, listen to their questions, and bring them to Christ! Each of you knows a person toward whom you need to take that step: perhaps a child, a friend, a neighbor, someone who stopped believing long ago or who has never had anyone close to them to speak to them about God,” the pope said. There is “one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus,” the pope said, quoting St. Paul. Then he added: “All of Mary’s greatness is based on her relationship with Christ: She welcomes him, lives by him, and leads others to him. An encounter with the Master is the goal of all evangelization and of all authentic Marian devotion.”