• Analysis
Pope Leo Argentina Visit: Pontiff Urges Listening and Clean Government in Buenos Aires
During his Argentina visit on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV told President Javier Milei that strengthening democracy requires a willingness to listen and careful use of words, and warned that corruption undermines citizens' confidence in their institutions.
A message on democracy delivered to Milei
Receiving President Javier Milei at the presidential palace, Pope Leo XIV framed his Argentina visit around the health of democratic life itself. Strengthening democracy, he told the president, requires a willingness to listen and the careful use of words - advice that lands on a leader known for a combative style.
Leo also pressed the point that personal integrity in public office matters, telling his host that corruption undermines the confidence of citizens in their institutions. Hundreds chanted "Papa Leon" outside the palace as the meeting took place.
The rebuke over austerity
In a Buenos Aires speech that drew rapturous applause, the 71-year-old pontiff criticised Milei's austerity measures and insisted growth must benefit everyone. Shortly after landing, he put it plainly:
"The economy must be at the service of the people, rather than people being at the service of the economy"
The comments carry weight in a country shaped by three years of spending cuts:
- •Milei took office promising to revive the economy and tame inflation by shrinking the welfare state, with public hospitals, universities and pensioners particularly targeted
- •The poverty rate rose to 32.3% in September, having swung wildly since Milei came to power
- •Leo defended the poor and pensioners and called for particular concern for those affected by illness, dependency and disability - a veiled reference to cuts in disability assistance
A journey that began weeks after surgery
Buenos Aires is the second leg of a 12-day Latin America tour that the pope began just three weeks after undergoing surgery for lung cancer. He arrived from Uruguay, where the trip - his first to the region as pope - opened with his condemnation of drug violence and his call to end child poverty.
The stop is also the first by a pontiff to Argentina in nearly four decades, and Leo said he was retracing the steps of the late pope Francis, the country's most famous son.
Crowds hoping for unity
Among the Argentines who lined his route, the hope voiced most often was that the visit could mend the deep divisions between supporters and opponents of Milei after three years of austerity. Liliana Deblauwe, a 68-year-old retired teacher waiting among hundreds near the San Martin monument, put it in footballing terms: "Just like the World Cup unites us, hopefully the pope will too". Brian Inacio Rodriguez, a 26-year-old job seeker who travelled five days overland from Ushuaia, hoped the pope brought much peace to Argentina.
The Argentine programme continues with a visit to a home for disabled people, a prison and three open-air masses, with the church expecting 7 million attendees.
