A pontiff born in the United States, now leading the Church in Rome, has come to Buenos Aires for the first papal visit to Argentina in nearly forty years, landing at a moment when the Church and a libertarian government are at odds over how a nation should treat its poor. Leo XIV told the country's leaders that the economy exists to serve the person, not the reverse, yet he left room for enterprise and private initiative, asking instead whether the powerful are willing to limit themselves for the common good. Standing in a land where the faithful are slipping away and young people are leaving
Milei Welcomes Pope Leo to Argentina, Where Papal Calls for Service Over Austerity Mark the Visit
The economy must serve the person, not the person the economy.
Mark
Why does this visit carry so much weight beyond the ceremony?
Mimi
Because it's the first papal trip to Argentina since 1987, and Francis, an Argentine, never made one as pope. Leo is stepping into that absence.
Mark
And his speech wasn't just pleasantries.
Mimi
No. He said the economy must serve the person, not the reverse, and he called for more state investment in education while Milei's cuts have hit public universities.
Luke
Worth noting he didn't attack the market model. He also backed policies that stimulate private initiative.
Mark
So it's a balanced message?
Mimi
Balanced in tone, yes, but aimed at the unemployed, retirees and working families who struggle to get by.
Luke
The reporting doesn't say Leo named Milei or his programme directly. The link to austerity is the framing of the coverage, drawn from the context of his words.
Mark
What about Milei's response?
Mimi
He called Leo an "exceptional figure," a far warmer tone than he took toward Francis, whom he called a communist.
Luke
But a warm greeting doesn't tell us whether policy or relations with the church will change. That's unknown so far.
Mark
And the church itself is shrinking in Argentina?
Mimi
Self-identified Catholics fell from 71 to 58 percent between 2013-2014 and a decade later, per Pew.
O Pulso
- The pope's first words in Argentina cut against the government's austerity drive, insisting the economy must serve people rather than the reverse.
- A relationship marked by open hostility under Pope Francis now meets a visiting pontiff who has been greeted with unexpected warmth by President Milei.
- Real wages remain below their level at the start of the reforms, and roughly 300,000 formal jobs have disappeared, leaving public universities and families under strain.
- Church membership in Argentina has fallen sharply, from 71 percent to 58 percent of the population in a decade, sharpening the stakes of the visit.
- The trip continues through a crowded schedule of masses, a prison visit and ceremonies before the pope departs for Peru on Wednesday, leaving the lasting effect of the tarmac's cordiality still uncertain.
A pontiff born in the United States, now leading the Church in Rome, has come to Buenos Aires for the first papal visit to Argentina in nearly forty years, landing at a moment when the Church and a libertarian government are at odds over how a nation should treat its poor. Leo XIV told the country's leaders that the economy exists to serve the person, not the reverse, yet he left room for enterprise and private initiative, asking instead whether the powerful are willing to limit themselves for the common good. Standing in a land where the faithful are slipping away and young people are leaving in search of futures they cannot find at home, he has asked Argentina to reckon honestly with where it has fallen short. Whether the warm welcome on the tarmac will soften a long-running estrangement remains an open question, one that will unfold as he carries his message onward through Peru and the wider continent.
On Sunday, at Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires, President Javier Milei and his sister Karina, who serves as presidential secretary, stood on the tarmac to greet Pope Leo XIV. It was the first papal visit to Argentina in nearly four decades, the last having been John Paul II in 1987. Leo, 71 and the first pope born in the United States, is midway through a twelve-day tour of Latin America that began in Uruguay.
The welcome arrived against friction between the government and the Argentine Catholic Church over Milei's austerity programme. In his first public address in the country, the pope offered a counterweight to the libertarian agenda. "The economy must serve the person, not the person the economy," he told the capital's leaders. He did not dismiss markets, encouraging private initiative, but he called for support for the unemployed, retirees and workers who still struggle to meet their households' needs. He described authority as service and urged those who hold power to acknowledge its limits, and he reached for common ground, saying some causes transcend differences.
The record behind his words is mixed. Milei has slashed public spending, cut subsidies and pursued privatisation, delivering a budget surplus and lower inflation, yet real wages remain below their level at the start of his term and about 300,000 formal jobs have been lost. Leo used part of his speech to call for greater state investment in education and vocational training, asking where the nation has failed when its young must emigrate to realise their dreams.
Milei, who once attacked Pope Francis bitterly, called Leo an "exceptional figure." Some locals see this visit as filling a gap Francis left, since he never came to his native Buenos Aires as pontiff before his death in 2025. Catholics remain Latin America's largest religious group, but their share in Argentina has dropped from 71 percent to 58 percent in a decade. Whether the cordial tarmac greeting will ease the tension as the pope moves on to Peru remains to be seen.
On Sunday, at Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires, President Javier Milei and his sister Karina Milei, who serves as presidential secretary, stood on the tarmac to greet Pope Leo XIV. It was the first papal visit to Argentina in nearly four decades. The last pontiff to come was John Paul II, in 1987.
Leo, who is 71 and the first pope born in the United States, is on a 12-day, three-country tour of Latin America. Argentina is the second stop, after three days in Uruguay. In Buenos Aires he attended a welcome ceremony at Plaza San Martin and met Milei at the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace. He is also scheduled to visit a prison and to celebrate mass in Buenos Aires, Lujan and the province of Cordoba. On Wednesday he leaves for Peru.
The welcome came against a backdrop of friction between Milei's government and the Argentine Catholic Church over the president's austerity programme. In his first public address in the country, Leo offered a pointed counterweight to the libertarian's free-market agenda. "The economy must serve the person, not the person the economy," he told leaders in the capital. He did not reject markets outright. He encouraged an economic approach that "stimulates private initiative", but he also called for policies that help the unemployed, retirees and those who work hard and still struggle to meet their household's needs.
He framed power itself as a duty. "Authority is most authentic when it is exercised as service," he said, adding that those who hold it must act with prudence, acknowledge the limits of the power entrusted to them, and direct their decisions toward the good of the whole community. He also sought common ground: "There are causes and occasions that transcend our differences."
The record he was speaking to is mixed. Milei has cut public spending sharply to fight inflation and eliminate the fiscal deficit, rolled back subsidies, loosened regulations and pursued the privatisation of state-owned companies. He has delivered a budget surplus and lower inflation. But real wages remain below where they stood when he took office, and about 300,000 formal jobs have been lost since the reforms began. Public universities have been caught in the cuts, and Leo used part of his speech to call for more state investment in education and vocational training. "A nation must seriously ask itself where it has failed when its young people have to leave their homeland in order to make their dreams come true," he said. He also described Argentina's democracy as part of the country's heritage that needs safeguarding.
Milei, for his part, struck a warmer note than many expected, calling the pope an "exceptional figure." The contrast with the past is sharp. Milei had a notoriously hostile relationship with Pope Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1936. Even before winning the presidency in 2023 as a dark-horse candidate, Milei had attacked Francis over issues from taxation to social programmes, calling him a "communist" and an "imbecile who defends social justice." Francis, the first pope from the Americas, never visited Argentina as pontiff and died in 2025.
Some see Leo's trip as filling that gap. "Leo is going to make the visit that Francis never did," said Reverend Lorenzo "Toto" de Vedia, who works with poor communities in a Buenos Aires neighbourhood.
The church Leo visits is also changing. Catholics remain Latin America's largest religious group, with as many as 425 million people identifying with the church, but their share of the population has fallen over the past decade. A Pew Research Center survey found self-identified Catholics in Argentina dropped from 71 percent in 2013-2014 to 58 percent a decade later. Milei, raised Catholic, has said he considered converting to Judaism.
What to watch now is whether the cordial tone on the tarmac eases the tension between Milei and the church, as Leo moves on to Peru and the rest of his tour.
Citações Notáveis
Authority is most authentic when it is exercised as service.— Pope Leo XIV
Leo is going to make the visit that Francis never did.— Reverend Lorenzo "Toto" de Vedia
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Politics & Governance