With a large turnout of believers from different provinces and countries and numerous moving testimonies, Pope Leo XIV concluded his four-day visit to Argentina, a presence not seen in nearly four decades.
During the various activities, several artists had the opportunity to take part in the encounters and share what it meant for them to live an experience of such magnitude.
Among them was Soledad Pastorutti, who performed during the Pontiff’s first Mass and received a warm response from the audience, who sang and accompanied her performance to the rhythm of her music. However, beyond that performance, which will stand out as one of the highlights of her career, the singer revealed that she also had the opportunity to approach Leo XIV and converse with him.
“It was wonderful. They are those gifts that appear in life that you really wonder why, and you are grateful, of course,” she said during a virtual interview with TN, in dialogue with Franco Mercuriali and the rest of the team.
Recalling her performance, Soledad defined it as an “astonishing” experience. “From the stage you could not tell where the crowd ended. Everything that happened that day was wonderful,” she said.
But the experience did not end on stage. After singing, the artist had the opportunity to approach and greet the Pope and she highlighted especially the way he welcomed each person. “It was very moving. I was struck by the time he took with each person, looked you in the eyes, listened to you, paid attention to what you said,” she recounted.
The singer recalled a brief, yet emotionally charged phrase that she managed to say to the pontiff: “I told him I was very excited to have sung earlier.”
The Meaningful Gift Soledad Pastorutti Gave to Pope Leo XIV
One of the most striking details of the encounter was the gift the artist chose to present: a poncho with a very special story. Although during her performance she had worn one woven with the colors of the Argentine flag, she clarified that it was not that garment.
In fact, Soledad gave him the emblematic poncho she raised during her Cosquín performance in 1996, and which years later she had already given to Pope Francis during a performance in Brazil.
“It was the same one that I gave to Francis when I sang in Brazil,” the singer explained, a revelation that surprised the program’s team and sparked admiration for the gesture of sharing such a meaningful garment with two pontiffs.
In this way, Soledad lived a special day in which she could unite two very important aspects of her personal history: music and her bond with faith. Through her performance and that memory-filled gift, the artist played a central role in an encounter that also bridged, symbolically, between Leo XIV and Francis, her predecessor.
