In short
- Pope Leo XIV begins his Argentina visit on Monday 9 November at the Cottolengo Don Orione, a home for about 400 people with disabilities in Claypole, 26km from Buenos Aires.
- The three-day Argentina leg is the first papal visit to the country since John Paul II in 1987.
- The home’s coordinator, Fernando Montero, said the government cut off supplies of medications, special foods and diapers and has delivered none since last November.
- Argentina’s conference of bishops wrote to health minister Mario Lugones on 1 April about the situation facing institutions that care for people with disabilities; the ministry has met the bishops twice without resolving the issue.
- The thinktank Mate estimates that retirees on the minimum pension, 63% of the total, have lost about 30% of their purchasing power.
Pope Leo XIV begins his Argentina visit on Monday 9 November at the Cottolengo Don Orione, a Catholic-run home for about 400 people with disabilities in Claypole, 26km from Buenos Aires. It is the first papal visit to Argentina since John Paul II in 1987, and President Javier Milei is due to receive the pope at the airport on Sunday.
Why is this papal visit significant?
The Argentina leg lasts three days, part of a South American trip that began in Uruguay on Friday and ends with six days in Peru — a 12-day Latin America tour that followed lung surgery. Leo XIV’s predecessor, the Argentine Pope Francis, never returned to the country during his papacy. Last month, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge García Cuerva, said the pope would find “a divided Argentina and a large number of very poor brothers and sisters”.
What is the dispute over disability funding?
Fernando Montero, coordinator of the Cottolengo Don Orione, said the government had stopped supplying the home. “[The government] cut off the supply of medications, special foods and diapers. They haven’t delivered any since last November. The matter is in court,” he said. Argentina’s conference of bishops wrote to health minister Mario Lugones on 1 April denouncing “the serious situation facing numerous institutions dedicated to the care and support of people with disabilities in our country”. The ministry has met the bishops twice since, in April and on 5 October, without resolving the impasse.
How do the pope and Milei differ?
Milei, a far-right libertarian economist who campaigned with a chainsaw as the symbol of his promised spending cuts, called Francis an “imbecile” and “the representative of the Evil One on Earth” in 2020, and said social justice was theft. He claims to have apologised when he met Francis at the Vatican in February 2024. Since taking office he has slashed public spending, which the government says was needed to curb inflation, while Leo XIV has said Argentina’s economy must serve all its people.
The Buenos Aires thinktank Mate estimates that retirees on the minimum pension — 63% of the total — have lost about 30% of their purchasing power. At the weekly retirees’ march outside Congress last Wednesday, a man held up a cardboard sign reading: “Save us Pope Leo XIV – Milei is killing us.”
What about artificial intelligence?
In May, Leo XIV called for “disarming” artificial intelligence, while Milei has said he would not regulate the technology and has presented bills to build datacentres across the country and to grant legal status to “no-human corporations”. Federico Sturzenegger, the minister in charge of state cuts, says he has used AI to draft legislation. Juan Grabois, a left-wing Peronist deputy who served in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said “the idea of absolute deregulation is at the heart of the president’s agenda”.
Where will the pope go after Claypole?
After the disability home, Leo XIV travels to Buenos Aires to meet business and union leaders, and on Tuesday he celebrates Mass at the grounds of FAdeA, the state-owned military aircraft factory in Córdoba whose workers have protested against Milei’s cuts. Sandra Pettovello, the minister overseeing social policy, said recently: “There’s no way the pope is going to come here to comment on local politics.”
Frequently asked questions
When is Pope Leo XIV visiting Argentina?
The Argentina leg of his South American trip lasts three days, starting with his first full day on Monday 9 November at the Cottolengo Don Orione in Claypole; President Javier Milei receives him at the airport on the Sunday.
Why is the pope starting at a home for people with disabilities?
The Cottolengo Don Orione in Claypole houses about 400 people with disabilities, and its coordinator says government supplies of medications, special foods and diapers have not arrived since last November.
What has Javier Milei said about Pope Francis?
In 2020 Milei called Francis an “imbecile” and “the representative of the Evil One on Earth”; he says he apologised when the two met at the Vatican in February 2024.
With reporting from The Guardian.
Stock image, not from the events described. Church Interior — Matt Bango / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)
