NEW YORK (AP) — His voice forceful and proud, he rose in front of the world's largest gathering of leaders on behalf of his nation and announced that he had something important to say. The tiny South Pacific island nation of Nauru, its president said, had altered its name — and reclaimed its heritage in the process.
“I have traveled far,” David Adeang said Tuesday at the United Nations.
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FILE- A child plays near the beach in Nauru during the Pacific Islands Forum on the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru Monday, Sept. 3, 2018. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - This shows national flags in Nauru for the Pacific Islands Forum on the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru, on Sept. 3, 2018. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP, File)
President of Naoero, David Ranibok Adeang addresses the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
President of Naoero, David Ranibok Adeang addresses the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
What was known to the world for many years as Nauru, Adeang said, was returning to the name and pronunciation of its past: Naoero.
“There are moments in the life of a nation when its people are called to remember who they have always been,” Adeang said in his speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “This is such a moment for us.”
Though the names are similar and, in essence, the same word, the shift in spelling and pronunciation represents the nation's effort to recast — rebrand, even — itself for its own people as much as for the outside world. He called it not a change but an effort to “affirm a truth.”
“For many years, the world has known our country as Nauru. Nauru is how our name sounded to those who found it hard to say, and the world kept it,” Adeang said. “But it is not the name our people used among themselves.”
The nation, an eight-square-mile island with about 12,000 people, became independent in 1968 after longtime colonial rule under the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Germany. It announced the renaming in August after signaling its intent in February.
The country’s international code is changing from NRU to NRO and its people will be known as dei-Naoero instead of Nauruan. Commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of Now-roo, the new name is spoken as Now-ero.
Across the past century, other nations have renamed themselves or tweaked their names for various reasons, from modernization to rejection of colonialism.
The African nation of Eswatini changed its name from Swaziland in 2018. In Africa, Dahomey became Benin after a 1975 coup and Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980 after shedding colonial rule. Siam became Thailand in 1939 to foster ethnic unity and shed a foreign label.
Turkey, meanwhile, has been officially named Turkiye since 1920 but requested in 2022 that the United Nations use the spelling and pronunciation as its name in English as well — in part to avoid confusion by underscoring that the bird wasn't the word.
The list goes on. Persia became Iran. Burma became Myanmar. Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso, Gold Coast is Ghana and Ceylon is Sri Lanka.
A name, obviously, is a pivotal and intimate expression of a nation's identity on any stage, domestic or international. Adeang's remarks Tuesday reflected this as he carefully pronounced the name to differentiate it from its former pronunciation.
“We do not make this choice to erase our past. We make it because we honor it,” he said. “That name carries the memory of our ancestors, our language, and our identity. It has been there all along. Never lost, never absent. Today, we restore Naoero.”
And then, after completing his address about the issues that face his people — rising seas, economics, respect on the global stage — he concluded his address with three words:
“Say our name.”
Ted Anthony has written about international affairs for The Associated Press since 1995.
FILE- A child plays near the beach in Nauru during the Pacific Islands Forum on the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru Monday, Sept. 3, 2018. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - This shows national flags in Nauru for the Pacific Islands Forum on the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru, on Sept. 3, 2018. (Jason Oxenham/Pool Photo via AP, File)
President of Naoero, David Ranibok Adeang addresses the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
President of Naoero, David Ranibok Adeang addresses the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Pope Leo XIV urged Uruguayans on Saturday to build bridges of fraternity and faith, as he delivered an ode to the region's beloved mate tea and raised the profile of the Catholic Church in Latin America's most secular country.
Leo spent his first full day in Uruguay pointing to the church’s historic roots in the country and the work it’s doing today. He drew an estimated 100,000 people at a prayer vigil and visited a violence-ravaged neighborhood of Montevideo where church groups have built homes, provided job opportunities and run drug rehabilitation programs.
The aim, on the first stop of his three-nation South American tour, is to propose the Catholic faith as a response to today's challenges and the church a willing helper in a country where even Catholic holidays have secular names and God cannot be mentioned in oaths of office.
Leo traveled first to Paysandú, in western Uruguay on the border with Argentina, for his first Mass in South America. The Vatican said 40,000 people -- many from Uruguay but also from neighboring Argentina and Brazil – came out, despite the morning rain and blustery gray skies.
The crowd erupted in the stadium chant of “Olé, olé, olé, olé, pope, pope!” when Leo’s plane landed in Paysandú, around 375 kilometers (230 miles) from the capital, Montevideo. They cheered again, blew horns and waved yellow handkerchiefs when he arrived in his open-sided popemobile at the Mass site in a park.
Speaking to the crowd in Spanish, Leo reminded them that the Catholic faith had been “part of the life of the Uruguayan people since their earliest days, and it must be passed on to future generations with creative courage!”
Because of its accessible location on the Uruguay River, the city was chosen to host Leo’s first Mass at the start of his 12-day South American tour that was in doubt after he underwent lung cancer surgery on Oct. 13.
“He’s the representative of Christ but he’s human. And we weren’t sure if he could make it, but he pushed through for us,” said Soledad Sánchez, 73, who had driven to Paysandú from northern Uruguay, her eyes filling with tears. “He made it here to give us a message of peace because he knows our world needs it right now.”
Leo asked the faithful to build bridges of fraternity, recalling the nearby bridge over the Uruguay River that connects Uruguay and Argentina and over which many pilgrims crossed to attend the Mass.
He also pointed to the ritual of drinking mate, the bitter herbal tea that Uruguayans and their neighbors carry everywhere, as a poignant symbol of unity and encounter that he suggested should be applied to spreading the faith.
“It teaches us to share and to be together, strengthening the bonds that unite us as brothers and sisters,” he said. “It is a sign of welcome, integration and shared values.”
Mate, a cherished national symbol in Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay, is above all a sharing ritual. The leaves are steeped in a hollowed gourd and the drink is sipped through a metal straw called a bombilla, and the gourd passes from hand to hand among friends, family and sometimes strangers, refilled for hours.
Everyone drinks from the same straw, and Uruguayans drink more mate per person than people anywhere else, roughly 9 kilograms (about 20 pounds) of the dried leaf a year, according to industry estimates.
“We must reflect on these symbols that we share, which give us identity and a sense of belonging, which speak to us of our origins and point us toward the future,” Leo said.
The message landed.
“I’m not religious. I’d never go to Mass if it weren’t the pope, but he surprised me. He made it appealing, the way he talked about things we all have in common, like mate,” said Jorge Monzón, 64, from Paysandú. “I personally felt a sense of communion.”
Leo pressed the message of the church's commitment to helping Uruguayans later Saturday by visiting Casavalle, a Montevideo area of small neighborhood s beset by drug trafficking and gang violence. In Borro, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish builds homes and supports addicts in their recovery, with donations including from The Papal Foundation, the U.S.-based group of wealthy Catholics who fund special papal projects.
Leo toured some of the new homes and praised the work church groups were doing, all while the crowd chanted “León, amigo, el barrio está contigo!" (Leon, my friend, the neighborhood is with you!")
He said Christians must commit themselves to the charity and closeness shown by the biblical figure of the good Samaritan, “who did not remain indifferent upon seeing misfortune, but took responsibility for his brother’s life.”
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that there are children in Uruguay who do not go to school for fear of never returning home,” he said.
Uruguay has universal access to primary school and enrolls nearly all its children, but only about half of Uruguayans finish high school, one of the lowest rates in Latin America, according to the National Institute for Educational Evaluation. The graduation rate is even worse for children from the poorest households, where only one in four graduate compared to nearly nine out of 10 from the wealthiest families.
Jonathan Tropiano, 28, is one of the many in the area whose lives were transformed by the church.
He dreamed of becoming a rapper but was arrested after falling into crime and violence. Once out of the prison, at the age of 20, Tropiano became closer and closer to the local church.
“My life was horrible, with so much suffering. But then I found God and that was when I started to be a better person,” he said.
Late Saturday Leo presided over an evening prayer vigil at Montevideo’s Centenario Stadium, which hosted Pope John Paul II during the last papal visit to Uruguay in 1988. The Vatican said some 70,000 people were inside and another 30,000 outside watching on TV screens.
Leo told them that the relatively small number of Catholics in Uruguay wasn't a calculous the church considers important, recalling that Jesus was born in a small stable in Bethlehem.
“God chose Bethlehem, and that choice alone is enough to prevent us from equating smallness with insignificance,” Leo said.
Saturday was Leo's only full day in Uruguay before heading Sunday afternoon to Argentina for the second leg of his trip, which was to end next week in his second homeland of Peru.
Many Argentines, though, took advantage of the Paysandú Mass to see him since it was located just across a bridge from the eastern Argentine city of Colón and was closer than any of his Argentine stops in Buenos Aires, Luján and Córdoba.
“Argentina is a much more religious country than Uruguay, and there’s this desire to be here to witness something historic,” said Luciana Lobato, 20, an Argentine tour agent who organized buses for 180 pilgrims from across the border.
Ramiro Barreiro in Montevideo contributed.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Worshippers cheer ahead of a prayer vigil led by Pope Leo XIV at Centenario Stadium in Montevideo, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Pope Leo XIV leads a vigil prayer at Centenario Stadium in Montevideo, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)
Faithful drink mate, a traditional South American herbal infusion, as they follow Pope Leo XIV presiding over Mass at Parque París Londres in Paysandú, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, on the second day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful during Mass at Parque Paris Londres in Paysandu, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful as he arrives to celebrate Mass at Parque Paris Londres in Paysandu, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over Mass at Parque París Londres in Paysandú, Uruguay, on the second day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV blesses a child as he arrives to celebrate Mass at Parque Paris Londres in Paysandu, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful as he arrives to celebrate Mass at Parque Paris Londres in Paysandu, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful as he arrives to celebrate Mass at Parque Paris Londres in Paysandu, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello
Pope Leo XIV waves after celebrating vespers at the Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)
Pope Leo XIV is transported to the Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Pope Leo XIV celebrates vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and seminarians at the Metropolitan Cathedral, in Montevideo, Uruguay, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and seminarians at the Metropolitan Cathedral, in Montevideo, Uruguay, on the first day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV waves after celebrating vespers at the Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Mazzarovich)
Catholic faithful hold an Argentine flag bearing images of the late Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV as they wait for Pope Leo XIV to arrive to celebrate Mass at Parque Paris Londres in Paysandu, Uruguay, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
