Uruguay: lawmakers ask to light the Legislative Palace yellow and white for Leo XIV

A cross-party group of lawmakers, led by Uruguay's House of Representatives Speaker Rodrigo Goñi (National Party), has formally asked General Assembly President and Vice President Carolina Cosse to light Montevideo's Legislative Palace in the yellow and white of the Vatican City State flag during Pope Leo XIV's visit (6–8 November), the first stop of his apostolic journey to Latin America.

In the letter, posted by Goñi on X on 28 October, the signatories ask for the lighting "as an institutional gesture of welcome, in keeping with the reception the Uruguayan State will give him". Speaking to Telenoche, Goñi called it "the minimum measure we can take from Parliament to welcome Pope Leo", arguing that the Vatican flag represents another state.

According to parliamentary sources quoted by Telenoche, Cosse has received the letter but has not yet decided. Her team notes that the Palace lighting is reserved for general public-interest campaigns (such as breast cancer awareness month or autism awareness day) and that the building is the house of democracy of a secular state, while the Vatican flag would represent one particular religion.

Secularism had already shaped July's proposal, later dropped, for the General Assembly to receive the Pope: according to Búsqueda, the Holy See ruled out a visit to Parliament and the trip will be an official visit, not a state visit.

Sources: Rodrigo Goñi on X, Telenoche, la diaria, Búsqueda.