Pope Leo XIV heads to Argentina on Sunday on the second leg of a 12-day tour of South America, where the first US-born pope will deliver a closely watched address to President Javier Milei, a libertarian seen as a close ally of Donald Trump.
The speech may lay bare tensions between the Vatican and Milei, whose austerity programme has been criticised by the Church for hitting the poorest hardest, and who has strongly supported the war in Iran, which Leo has criticised, to Trump’s displeasure.
Leo, who is arriving from Uruguay, where he urged South American countries to tackle regional issues together and to set an example for patient diplomacy over conflict, is the first Catholic leader to visit Argentina since 1987. He will tour four cities until Wednesday.
The 71-year-old pontiff is making one of the most intense foreign trips by a Catholic leader in decades, less than a month after undergoing surgery for lung cancer. The three-country tour runs until 17 November.
Leo usually speaks in careful, diplomatic language when he addresses national governments, and he is not expected to criticise Milei by name. But his remarks will be carefully parsed by political observers. “Any interventions by Leo, particularly on poverty, the limits of markets or confrontational political rhetoric, could be read as implicit criticism of Milei and amplify existing opposition to the government’s approach,” said Nicolas Watson, a managing director at advisory firm Teneo.
Milei swept to power in 2023 after a run of centre-left Peronist rule, campaigning with a chainsaw as a symbol of the deep spending cuts he pledged to make to shore up the country’s finances. He has defended austerity as the only way to bring inflation under control, and under his programme annual inflation has fallen from over 200% to 33%.
But surveys show his popularity has slipped ahead of elections next year, as Argentines contend with subsidy cuts, public-sector layoffs and business closures linked to squeezed household budgets.
The pope’s itinerary in Argentina includes visits to a care centre for people with disabilities and a prison, underscoring his focus on groups that are often marginalised. Jorge Silanes, religious director of the Pequeno Cottolengo Don Orione care centre that will welcome the pope on Monday, said the visit carried added significance because spending cuts have reduced disability benefits while poverty remains widespread.
Fortunato Mallimaci, a sociologist at Argentina’s Conicet research agency, said Leo’s visit would create a sense of unity and energy among those who feel excluded by Milei’s economic programme.
Milei was known for piling insults on Leo’s predecessor, Francis, an Argentine who never came home during his 12-year papacy. Despite calling Francis “an imbecile”, Milei eventually sought to repair relations and visited the late pope at the Vatican.
“Milei doesn’t win anything by fighting with [Leo],” said Veronica Gimenez Beliveau, a sociologist at the University of Buenos Aires. “He could gain in showing an orderly country and administration,” she said.
Over his 18-month papacy, Leo has forcefully warned about the risks of artificial intelligence, urged world leaders to treat immigrants more humanely, and called for action to address climate change — appeals that have put him at odds with Trump and other right-wing leaders.
Sources: Reuters
