EXPLAINED | Why Pope Leo XIV Is Visiting Javier Milei’s Argentina

On November 8, Pope Leo XIV is due to meet Argentine President Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace in Buenos Aires. The next morning, he is due at a Catholic care home in Claypole where more than 400 people with disabilities live. Argentina’s Congress is debating the pensions and health coverage that help pay for this kind of care.

The first papal visit to Argentina since 1987 is the middle leg of a 12-day tour through Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. In Uruguay, Leo asked political leaders to work for the good of the whole country. In Argentina, Milei can point to a dramatic fall in inflation. The Church is asking what happens to people who lose support along the way.

What happens when Leo gets to Buenos Aires?

The Vatican’s November 8 programme puts the meeting with Milei at 5.50 pm local time and Leo’s address to officials, diplomats and civic groups at the Palacio Libertad at 6.30 pm, or 3 am on November 9 in India. Milei and the Argentine Church both invited him. The president gets to welcome the first visiting pope in 39 years. Leo gets a public platform of his own, followed by meetings with labour representatives and leaders of other faiths, and a visit to a prison on November 11.

Why is a pope making this trip?

An apostolic journey is a visit the pope makes as leader of the Catholic Church. He meets local Catholics, celebrates Mass and hears from people who run parishes, schools and charities. He also represents the Holy See, the central authority of the Church, which maintains diplomatic relations with governments. A single day can therefore include a meeting with a president and a visit to a neighbourhood parish. The Vatican’s top diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the trip was a chance to promote dialogue and reconciliation in societies divided by politics.

What did Leo do in Uruguay?

In Montevideo on November 6, he pointed to Uruguay’s own constitution, which calls for peaceful ways of settling international disputes. He urged the country to keep using negotiation and regional cooperation. The following day in Casavalle, a neighbourhood in Montevideo, he walked to homes built with help from a parish and greeted families living there. At his final Mass in Florida on November 8, Reuters reported that he prayed for those governing Uruguay to seek the good of all.

What has Milei’s spending squeeze done?

Milei argues that cutting government spending was necessary to bring inflation under control. Annual inflation fell from 211.4 per cent in December 2023, when he took office, to 33.4 per cent in September 2026. Poverty in the urban areas surveyed by Argentina’s statistics agency fell from nearly 53 per cent in early 2024 to 28.2 per cent in the second half of 2025, then rose to 32.3 per cent in the first half of 2026. In that latest period, average household income per person rose 11.5 per cent while the cost of the basket of essentials used to measure poverty rose nearly 20 per cent.

Why is Leo going to a disability care home?

Claypole gives the pope a place to see what the Church provides and what public funding means for people who need daily support. The number of disability pensions that require no prior contributions fell by 5.9 per cent between 2023 and September 2026, according to Argentine fact-checker Chequeado’s analysis of official data. The average payment bought 15.9 per cent less than when Milei took office.

Argentine bishops warned lawmakers that an early draft of a disability bill could cost some pensioners their health coverage. The lower house passed a revised bill that protects coverage under a federal programme for eligible recipients. Senate committees backed the text on November 4. The full Senate still has to vote.

Where do Leo and Milei differ on Iran?

When the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February, Argentina’s foreign ministry publicly backed them. Leo urged the parties to halt the escalation and return to dialogue. Argentina’s ministry also cited the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people. An Argentine court blamed Iran for the attack in 2024. Tehran has denied involvement. Whether Leo raises Iran in Buenos Aires remains open.

What did earlier popes do in Argentina?

John Paul II visited in June 1982 while Argentina and Britain were fighting over the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas. He had visited Britain shortly before and used both trips to appeal for peace. He returned to Argentina in 1987 in very different circumstances. Argentina and Chile had signed a peace treaty at the Vatican in 1984 after papal mediation in their dispute over the Beagle Channel region. John Paul started the 1987 tour in Montevideo, where the two sides had agreed to put aside the use of force and begin mediation. He later said he had made the trip chiefly to give thanks for a war averted.

Why did Pope Francis never go home?

Francis said in 2021 that a 2017 itinerary had included Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. Chile’s election calendar disrupted the plan, and he ultimately went to Chile and Peru in January 2018. He gave that explanation for the trip that fell through. He died in 2025 without having returned to Argentina as pope.

Have papal trips served both purposes in India?

Yes. John Paul II came to New Delhi in November 1999 to issue a document setting out priorities for the Church in Asia. He celebrated Mass at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and, on Diwali, met representatives of other religions at Vigyan Bhawan. Those were separate stops for separate audiences, much like Leo’s meetings with Argentine Catholics and leaders of other faiths on this trip.

Why does the trip end in Peru?

Leo was born in the United States, but he worked in Peru as an Augustinian missionary, became bishop of Chiclayo and took Peruvian citizenship in 2015. He is due there from November 11. The itinerary also takes him to Pucallpa to meet Indigenous Amazonian representatives on November 15. Francis held a similar encounter in Puerto Maldonado in 2018, where he heard directly from Indigenous speakers. At Pucallpa on November 15, the people Leo is due to hear from include communities who live in the Amazon.