拉米罗·巴雷罗 蒙得维的亚，乌拉圭 —— 卢西亚·平托斯正在接受教师培训，她所在的博罗社区位于乌拉圭首都蒙得维的亚北部，因毒品贩运蔓延而深受其害。几天后，教皇利奥十四世将造访这里的一座教区，该教区是这片暴力频发之地中脆弱却急需的避风港。
RAMIRO BARREIRO MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Lucía Pintos is training to become a teacher in Borro, a Uruguayan neighborhood hit hard by the spread of drug trafficking, where a parish that will welcome Pope Leo XIV in a few days serves as a fragile but much-needed refuge from violence.
“这是令人痛心的现实，因为孩子们不得不去学校吃午餐或下午茶，”21岁的平托斯说。“你不敢让孩子出去玩或去买东西，因为那里有枪声。” 利奥将于11月6日至17日对乌拉圭、阿根廷和秘鲁进行访问，尽管近期确诊癌症，他仍确认行程如期进行，首站便将造访博罗社区的瓜达卢佩圣母堂区。该堂区建设住房、促进就业，并支持毒瘾者康复。
“It’s a painful reality, because the children have to go to school to have lunch or an afternoon snack,” the 21-year-old Pintos said. “You can’t let your child go out to play or do the shopping because there’s gunfire.”Leo will visit the neighborhood on the north side of Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, at the start of his Nov. 6-17 tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru , which he confirmed despite his recent cancer diagnosis . The pontiff will visit the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, which builds homes, promotes job creation and supports addicts in their recovery.
博罗等社区长期生活在枪声和毒贩领地争夺之中。因担忧暴力升级，政府开始派遣装甲车巡逻，这些装甲车原本是美国捐赠用于联合国维和任务的。
Neighborhoods like Borro live with the sound of gunfire and territorial disputes between drug dealers. Concerns about violence have led the government to begin patrols with armored vehicles, which were originally donated by the United States for U.N. peacekeeping missions.
“家庭都知道，到了一定时间就必须进屋，”瓜达卢佩圣母堂区主任神父巴勃罗·科因布拉说。“枪声一响，他们就趴在地上，因为流弹可能击中任何人。那是机关枪扫射，子弹落在哪里就击中哪里。” 蒙得维的亚总主教丹尼尔·斯特拉表示，在南美洲这个国家，没有其他地方像博罗这样拥有如此强烈的天主教存在感。在接待完为利奥访问做准备的梵蒂冈代表团第二天，他陪同美联社记者走访了该社区。
“Families know that at a certain time they have to go inside,” said Rev. Pablo Coimbra, the head of the Our Lady of Guadalupe parish. “When the shootings start, they throw themselves to the ground, because a stray bullet can hit anyone. It’s bursts of machine-gun fire, and the bullets land wherever they land.”The Archbishop of Montevideo, Daniel Sturla, said that there is no other place in the South American country with such a strong Catholic presence as Borro. A day after receiving a Vatican delegation in preparation for Leo’s visit, he toured the neighborhood with The Associated Press.
根据官方统计，截至9月，蒙得维的亚共登记98起凶杀案——比去年同期增加13.5%——其中46%以上发生在博罗及周边社区。乌拉圭在该地区的凶杀率仍属较低，去年每10万人中约有10起凶杀案。
According to an official count, of the 98 homicides registered up to September in Montevideo — 13.5% more than in the same period last year — more than 46% occurred in Borro and surrounding neighborhoods. Uruguay still has a low homicide rate for the region, with about 10 homicides per 100,000 people last year.
2025年10月，内政部长卡洛斯·内格罗表示，乌拉圭出现“流行病级别的凶杀率”，并誓言将其降低。
In October 2025, Interior Minister Carlos Negro said that Uruguay had “epidemic homicide rates” and vowed to reduce them.
随着土路向毗邻博罗的溪流延伸，泥泞变得无处不在，常渗入附近房屋。
As the dirt roads descend toward a stream adjacent to Borro, mud becomes omnipresent. It often seeps into nearby houses.
如今，这片景观被一条为教皇访问而修建的混凝土道路切割。狭窄的街道汇聚在一个由教区修复的足球场，有前途的年轻球员劳塔罗·马丁内斯在此训练。然而，近期发生枪击案后，出于预防考虑，训练目前已暂停。
That landscape is now cut by a concrete road prepared for the papal visit. The narrow streets converge on a soccer field restored by the parish, where Lautaro Martínez, a promising young player, practices. However, training has been suspended these days as a precaution following recent shootings.
在此背景下，教堂成了避难所。邻居们将伤者送到教堂，因为救护车只开到教堂门口。科因布拉神父说，帮派过去常持枪驱逐家庭以建立贩毒窝点，迫使他们在教区寻求庇护。
In this context, the church has become a refuge. Neighbors bring the wounded there because ambulances will only go as far as the church. Coimbra said that gangs used to expel families at gunpoint to set up drug dens, forcing them to seek refuge in the parish.
为打击犯罪，教区主导社会住房项目，居民正在建设100多套带卫生系统的住房——这一举措同时创造了本地就业。
To combat crime, the parish is leading social housing projects in which residents are building more than 100 units with sanitation systems — an effort that in turn generates local employment.
神父说：“教会的存在，意味着吸毒与不吸毒、继续求学与辍学的区别。”
“The presence of the church makes the difference between drug use and nonuse, between continuing to study and not,” the priest said.
许多寻求摆脱犯罪生活的年轻人在信仰中找到慰藉。周一，教区为无家可归者举行弥撒，吸引来自全市数十人前来。
Many young people seeking to leave a life of crime find solace in faith. On Mondays, the parish celebrates a Mass for homeless people, drawing dozens from all over the city.
科因布拉说：“他们来是为了用厕所和吃两顿饭，但主要是为了被倾听。”
“They come for the bathroom and two meals, but mainly to be heard,” Coimbra said.
领圣体时，大多数人双臂交叉置于胸前，表示未受洗。据天主教会数据，2025年乌拉圭3万名新生儿中，仅有2200人受洗。
When Holy Communion is given, most remain with their arms crossed over their chests, adicating they haven’t been baptized. According to data from the Catholic Church, in 2025 only 2,200 of the 30,000 newborns in Uruguay were baptized.
28岁的帕布罗·阿科斯塔出生于这个社区，曾卷入犯罪。如今，他白天在收容所和街头度过，在当地市场做非正规工作，并给10岁的儿子寄钱，因为毒瘾他见不到儿子。
Pablo Acosta, 28, was born in the neighborhood and got mixed up in crime. Today he spends his days between shelters and the streets, works informally in local markets, and sends money to his 10-year-old son, whom he doesn’t see because of his addictions.
“我腹部有枪伤，还有刀伤。我欠钱，卷入了不该卷入的地方，但过去一个月我一直在努力戒毒，”他说。
“I have a gunshot wound in my stomach and stab wounds. I owed money, I was involved where I shouldn’t have been, but for the past month I’ve been trying to quit using drugs,” he said.
科因布拉表示，向那些误入歧途的人伸出援手，防止青少年走上那条路，是教会的使命。
Extending a hand to those who have strayed down dark paths and preventing youth from taking that road, Coimbra said, is the church’s task.
“他们没有其他机会，没有俱乐部，没有英语课，没有橄榄球，在某些情况下，甚至几乎踢不上足球，”科因布拉说。“所以有大量的闲置时间，那就是我们需要介入的地方。”关注美联社拉丁美洲报道：
“They have no other opportunities, no club, no English classes, no rugby, and in some cases, barely any soccer,” Coimbra said. “So there is a lot of idleness, and that’s where we need to intervene.”Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at