Pope Leo arrives in Argentina amid austerity tensions

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Argentina on Sunday for the country’s first papal visit since 1987, greeted by President Javier Milei amid tensions between his government and the Catholic Church over spending cuts.

Milei and his sister Karina, the presidency’s secretary-general, welcomed Leo at Jorge Newbery airport near Buenos Aires, Al Jazeera reported. Earlier Sunday, Leo celebrated Mass in Uruguay, where he had spent three days on the first stop of his South American tour. He is scheduled to remain in Argentina until Wednesday before traveling to Peru.

The Argentine church has criticized Milei’s austerity measures, including cuts to social spending and programs for poor people. Milei has defended the cuts as necessary to control inflation and overhaul the economy. His government says the papal visit is religious, not political.

“The pope belongs to all Argentines. He doesn’t belong to a political party or a political camp,” Karina Milei told reporters after a planning meeting with church leaders, according to NPR.

NPR reported that Milei has cut Argentina’s healthcare budget by 48% in real terms since taking office in December 2023. Official data put poverty at 32.3% of the population — about 15 million people — in the first half of 2026. The Argentine church has also criticized Milei’s embrace of artificial intelligence; Leo has called for strict international safeguards on its development.

Leo’s itinerary includes a welcome ceremony at Plaza San Martin and a meeting with Milei at the presidential palace, Al Jazeera reported. He is also expected to meet officials, diplomats and civil society representatives, visit a prison and celebrate Mass in Buenos Aires, Lujan and Córdoba province.

The visit follows one that Leo’s Argentine predecessor, Pope Francis, never made. Francis, who died in 2025, did not return to his home country during his 12-year papacy. Milei had called him a “communist” and an “imbecile who defends social justice,” Al Jazeera reported.

“Leo is going to make the visit that Francis never did,” the Rev. Lorenzo “Toto” de Vedia, who works with poor communities in Buenos Aires, told Al Jazeera.

Before heading to Argentina, Leo celebrated Mass on Sunday in Florida, north of Montevideo, for the feast of the Virgin of the Thirty-three. The Vatican estimated that 50,000 people attended in a city of about 40,000. In his homily, Leo recalled the statue’s place in Uruguay’s independence tradition and thanked women who had taught younger generations the Catholic faith, even when their children later stopped practicing it.

“Mothers and grandmothers: never tire of passing on the faith!” he said.

Leo was the first pope to visit Uruguay in nearly four decades. Ahead of his arrival in Argentina, the country’s state intelligence agency said a person had been arrested over death threats against him, NPR reported.