Pope Leo XIV visit to Argentina began Sunday as President Javier Milei welcomed the pontiff at Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires, marking the first papal trip to the country in nearly four decades.
Milei, accompanied by his sister and presidential secretary Karina Milei, greeted the head of the Catholic Church amid ongoing strains between the administration and Argentina’s bishops over austerity measures.
Pope Leo XIV visit to Argentina and regional tour
Prior to arriving in Buenos Aires, the pope spent three days in Uruguay, the opening leg of his tour of Latin America. He is the first pontiff to set foot in Argentina since John Paul II’s 1987 visit.
“Without a doubt, it gives us great joy that this pope is visiting us,” said Jorge Silanes, religious director at the Pequeno Cottolengo Don Orione, a home for people with disabilities in Buenos Aires province.
In the capital, the itinerary includes a welcome ceremony at Plaza San Martin and a meeting with Milei at the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace. The trip unfolds as the Catholic Church faces declining affiliation in the region and a sometimes tense rapport with political leaders like Milei.
Catholics remain the largest faith community in Latin America, with as many as 425 million adherents. Yet their share has diminished over the past decade, a trend also reflected in data from the Pew Research Center.
Church, politics, and shifting faith in Latin America
A Pew Research Center survey shows that in Argentina, the share of adults identifying as Catholic fell from 71 percent in 2013–2014 to 58 percent a decade later. Milei, raised Catholic, has said he considered converting to Judaism.
Church leaders have criticized his government’s austerity program, which cut social spending and safety-net programs for low-income Argentines. Milei argues the measures are essential to rein in inflation, echoing debates seen in other countries facing fiscal tightening such as those described in Special Jurisdiction for Peace faces deep funding cuts.
Some clergy have taken visible roles in street protests against the cuts. Leo, 71, the first pope born in the United States, will remain in Argentina until Wednesday and is scheduled to meet officials, diplomats, and civil society representatives.
Schedule and next stops on the papal tour
He will visit a prison and celebrate Mass in Buenos Aires, Lujan, and the province of Cordoba before traveling to Peru, where he previously served for years as a bishop. The previous pope, Francis, born in Buenos Aires in 1936 and the first pontiff from the Americas, never visited Argentina as head of the Church.
He died in 2025. He and Milei had a notably contentious relationship, with Milei having labeled the late pope a “communist” and “an imbecile who defends social justice.”
“Leo is going to make the visit that Francis never did,” said Reverend Lorenzo “Toto” de Vedia, a priest who works with poor communities in a Buenos Aires neighborhood, which is one of many areas where the Vatican has long supported social programs through local parishes.