(ZENIT News / Buenos Aires, 11.031.2026).- As Argentina enters the final days of preparations for Pope Leo XIV’s first visit to the country, the arrangements are taking shape around more than security, transport and large public gatherings. Two locally manufactured vehicles have been adapted for the Pope’s movements, thousands of people are expected to take part in the principal Mass in Buenos Aires, and the Church has launched a programme of prayer and reflection intended to turn the visit into a moment of national and spiritual renewal.

Leo XIV is scheduled to visit Argentina from November 8 to 11, travelling to Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján. One of the most visible details of the preparations is the choice of two Toyota Hilux pickup trucks as the vehicles that will transport him during the trip. Manufactured at Toyota’s plant in Zárate, Buenos Aires Province, both have been specially adapted to meet the Vatican’s requirements.

Toyota Argentina formally handed over the Buenos Aires vehicle to Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Michael Wallace Banach on October 28, at the Kansai dealership, which represented the Holy See in the arrangement. The second vehicle is already in Córdoba, where it is being held under the protection of the National Gendarmerie until the Pope’s activities there. The adaptations were carried out in collaboration with Vallé Equipamientos, a vehicle-conversion company certified by Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan, while logistics and transport were entrusted to Furlong. Kansai will provide logistical support for the vehicle in Buenos Aires.

The choice of the Hilux also gives the preparations a distinctly Argentine dimension. The model has been produced in Zárate since 1997 and is among the country’s longest-running automotive manufacturing lines. Its presence in the papal convoy thus connects a major national industrial product with an event of considerable religious and public significance.

The central liturgical gathering in Buenos Aires, scheduled for November 9 at the Monument to the Spaniards, is being prepared as an expression of the breadth of the Catholic community. Seminaries from the ecclesiastical province of Buenos Aires and religious congregations based in Argentina will provide seminarians and deacons. The biblical reading will be proclaimed by Fernando Bravo, a well-known broadcaster whose professional career has been accompanied by a public testimony of faith.

The prayer of the faithful will include six people whose lives reflect experiences of overcoming hardship and serving those who suffer. The presentation of the gifts will bring together four groups intended to represent different dimensions of Argentine society and Church life: a family consisting of grandparents and a child, four representatives of the country’s Indigenous peoples, four migrants and four members of the Church representing different vocations.

The scale of the celebration is considerable. More than 150 priests and 2,030 designated ministers are expected to distribute Communion. Music will be provided by a choir of 150 people, accompanied by 50 musicians from the Florencio Varela Symphony Orchestra. The organization is seeking to make the liturgy more than a large public spectacle: its participants are intended to embody the many communities, vocations and circumstances that together constitute the people of God.

The preparations also reflect an effort to make the visit accessible to pilgrims who might otherwise struggle to find accommodation. The Church’s Hospitality Pastoral Ministry has arranged places in educational institutions in Buenos Aires and the surrounding metropolitan area, particularly for young people travelling in groups. The accommodation will be basic: pilgrims must bring their own sleeping bags and sleeping mats, as they will sleep on the floor. Groups including minors must provide at least one adult supervisor for every ten children or part thereof. Applications were required by November 2, with places limited and confirmation to be sent by email.

Alongside these practical arrangements, the official website for the visit has made available resources for spiritual preparation in parishes, families and other communities. These include prayers, formation materials, Eucharistic adoration guides and resources for Lectio Divina, the prayerful reading of Scripture. The materials also draw on passages from Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which he urges people not to stand aside from the challenges of their time.

One of the central images offered by the Pope is that of Nehemiah, the biblical figure who helped rebuild Jerusalem. Leo XIV uses this example to call Christians and all people of goodwill to take responsibility for shaping society, placing God on the horizon of their actions and the human person at the centre of their decisions. Particular attention, he insists, must be given to the poor, the sick, migrants and children. The goal is to build a common home grounded in love, truth, justice and peace.

The official prayer for the visit echoes that appeal, asking for Argentina to become a welcoming nation in which people are placed at the centre of public decisions and relationships are strengthened in pursuit of the common good. It also invokes the protection of Our Lady of Luján, the country’s patroness, and adopts the visit’s motto: “Rise up, Argentina, and walk towards a fraternal homeland.” A further initiative invites the Argentine bishops to lead a weekly prayer reflection, published every Tuesday at 9 p.m. through the Episcopal Conference’s YouTube channel.

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The post Argentina Prepares to Welcome Leo XIV: Papal Vehicles, a Mass of 2,000 Ministers and a Nation Invited to Rise Together appeared first on ZENIT - English.