Pope Leo XIV Tells Milei in Argentina: ‘The Economy Must Serve the Person, Not the Person the Economy’

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Argentina on Sunday, 8 November 2026, and within hours of landing he delivered a message that was impossible to mistake. Standing before President Javier Milei and the country’s political elite in Buenos Aires, the Pope said plainly: “The economy must serve the person, not the person the economy.”

It was the first visit by a pope to Argentina in 39 years. The last was Pope John Paul II in 1987. And it was the most politically delicate stop of Leo’s 12-day tour of South America — a visit to a deeply divided country, led by a president whose entire political project is built on cutting the state to the bone.

The Pope did not name Milei’s policies directly. He did not have to. Every line of his 25-minute speech at the Palacio Libertad cultural centre in Buenos Aires landed on the fault lines of Milei’s Argentina: austerity, poverty, universities, the disabled, artificial intelligence and the limits of power.

This article explains what Pope Leo XIV said in Argentina, why it matters, what it means for Milei, and what happens next on the tour.

A homecoming nearly four decades in the making

Pope Leo XIV touched down at Buenos Aires’ Jorge Newbery airport on Sunday, arriving from Uruguay, the first stop of his three-nation South American tour. Crowds thronged his route into the centre of the city, waving small Vatican and Argentine flags. Catholic nuns in tan-coloured habits chanted: “The pope is here, you can feel it.”

“It has been almost 40 years, 39 exactly, that the pope has not come to Argentina,” said Claudia Sona, who had travelled from the northern province of Salta to see him. “For Catholics, and I think for non-Catholics, this is a rebirth.”

The visit carries a weight that goes beyond the usual pageantry of a papal trip. Pope Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires, never returned to his homeland during his 12-year pontificate. He died in April 2025 without ever setting foot in Argentina as pope. For many Argentines, Leo’s arrival closes a wound that Francis left open.

Leo, 71, is the first pope born in the United States. But he is no stranger to Latin America. He served for nearly two decades as a missionary priest in Peru, became a Peruvian citizen, and the Vatican has described this tour as a “homecoming” for him. It is also one of the most demanding trips by a Catholic leader in decades: 50 events across three countries through 17 November, less than a month after the Pope underwent surgery for lung cancer.

From Buenos Aires, Leo will visit four cities in Argentina through Wednesday, including Córdoba and Luján, before flying on to Peru. Argentine officials estimate that around seven million people will see the Pope during his time in the country.

The speech: authority as service, not power

Leo’s first public speech in Argentina was delivered to government officials, diplomats and civic leaders at the Palacio Libertad. It was diplomatic in tone — as papal speeches to governments always are — but its content was pointed.

“Authority is most authentic when it is exercised as service,” the Pope said, drawing loud applause that forced him to repeat the line. “Those who exercise authority have a duty to act with prudence, to acknowledge the limits of the power entrusted to them, and to direct their decisions toward the good of the entire community.”

It was a direct challenge to a president who has built his power on confrontation. Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist, swept to power in 2023 campaigning with a chainsaw as the symbol of the deep cuts he promised to make to the state. He posts dozens of times a day on social media, branding critics “traitors” and “human trash”. He has been accused of undermining democracy with divisive rhetoric and attacks on the press.

Leo answered that style with a call for gentler politics. Democracy, he said, depends on “careful use of words” and “the ability to see those who think differently as fellow citizens with whom we share a common future.”

“Democracy,” he added, “is a part of Argentina’s heritage that needs to be safeguarded,” strengthened by “the patient search for agreement, and through the ability to see those who think differently as fellow citizens with whom we share a common future.”

Milei has said he will seek re-election next year. Leo’s words were a reminder, delivered to his face, that winning power and using it well are two different things.

The economy must serve the person

The heart of the speech was the economy. Milei has staked his presidency on slashing public spending to tame inflation, and on that narrow measure he has succeeded: annual inflation has fallen from more than 200 per cent to around 32 per cent, and the government has produced a rare budget surplus.

But the human cost has been heavy. Real wages remain below where they were when Milei took office in late 2023, and roughly 300,000 formal jobs have vanished. Retirees who say they cannot afford medicine on an average monthly pension of 510 US dollars have protested outside Congress every Wednesday for more than two years. Milei has mocked the widespread complaint that families cannot make it to the end of the month as “huge stupidity”.

Leo did not attack the reforms directly. In fact, he nodded to Milei’s free-market instincts, urging Argentina to encourage “whatever creates opportunities” and “stimulates private initiative”. But he insisted that growth must also reach the people it leaves behind.

“Efforts should be made to promote whatever creates opportunities, stimulates private initiative and ensures that economic growth also benefits those who are disadvantaged,” he said, in another line that drew strong applause.

He named the people he meant: the unemployed, retirees, and “all those who, despite hard work, nonetheless struggle to meet their household’s needs”.

The Pope’s most quoted line summed up his whole argument: “The economy must serve the person, not the person the economy.”

It was a view sharply at odds with Milei’s own philosophy. The president has described the very idea of social justice as “a horror”, a “moral aberration” and “theft” in recent speeches. His government, like its allies in the Trump administration, has presented the cuts as a necessary reform to remake Argentina’s troubled economy and eliminate fraud and waste in the federal bureaucracy.

A president who once called Francis evil

The meeting between the two men was itself remarkable for its history. Before becoming president, Milei had heaped insults on Pope Francis, at one point calling him the “representative of evil on Earth” and an “imbecile”. Once elected, however, he sought to repair relations and visited Francis at the Vatican in February 2024.

On Sunday, Milei paid homage to the late pope in terms that would have been unthinkable from him a few years ago. Interrupted by applause, he called Francis an “exceptional figure” and “undoubtedly the most important Argentine in history” whose teachings continue to resonate.

He also struck a rare conciliatory tone in welcoming politicians, diplomats and civil society representatives from across Argentina’s ideological spectrum to Leo’s ceremony. “There are causes and occasions that transcend our differences,” he said.

In his own address, Milei defended his libertarian policies, saying that the rights to life, liberty and property are the backbone of Argentina’s constitution and of Western democracies.

Ahead of the visit, Milei’s officials had tried to play down the prospect of any political clash. “There’s no way the pope is coming here to comment on local politics,” Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello said in a radio interview last week. In his welcoming message, Milei said he hoped the trip would “strengthen the faith, renew hope and bring a message of peace to all Argentines.”

Leo took up that message of peace — and used it to say things Milei’s government plainly did not want said.

The universities: a fight over Argentina’s future

The Pope also took up the cause of Argentina’s public universities, long a source of national pride and social mobility. Their funding has been cut by about 40 per cent since 2023, and the cuts have united much of the country against Milei’s fiscal shock therapy.

Professors and students have repeatedly taken to the streets in mass protests, demanding the government honour a law passed by Congress to restore professors’ salaries and boost scholarship and research funding. Milei has refused to implement the law, and the fight is now tied up in court.

Giving young people a future in Argentina, Leo said, means “investing in education, vocational training, universities and research.”

The warning was backed by stark numbers. In a survey of nearly 1,200 final-year medical students and doctors in training, published last year by the Argentine Society of Medicine’s research council, more than 80 per cent said they had considered emigrating, and nearly a third had started applying for foreign citizenship.

“A nation must seriously ask itself where it has failed when its young people have to leave their homeland in order to make their dreams come true,” Leo said.

A warning on nature and artificial intelligence

Leo also turned to two issues where his views clash openly with Milei’s: the environment and artificial intelligence.

Argentina’s natural resources, the Pope said, must serve “the well-being of communities” — language that could be read as a warning about Milei’s bet on oil, gas and mining. To attract investment, Milei has loosened protections for glaciers that supply much of the country’s water, and he has called human-caused global warming a “socialist lie”.

On artificial intelligence, Leo has made the technology a signature concern of his papacy, warning that it could lead the world down a path of unending war. Milei, by contrast, has championed AI development, courting tech companies to build data centres in the southern Patagonia region with promises of minimal regulation and cheap energy. His government has also embraced AI for policing, which rights groups warn could enable mass surveillance.

On Sunday, Leo warned that rapid advances in AI demand “careful consideration of the consequences of their application and the responsibilities of those who decide how to use them”. He added that technological progress must be matched by “ethical consciousness”.

A divided country, and a Church that has chosen a side

Leo’s speech did not come out of nowhere. Argentina’s Catholic bishops, many of them appointed by Francis, have become some of Milei’s most persistent critics. Of the 44 documents on public policy published by the country’s bishops’ conference between January 2024 and September 2026, 42 criticised Milei’s administration, on issues from poverty to migration, according to an analysis by sociologist Sol Prieto from Argentina’s national research council.

Speaking to reporters after a Mass last month at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva warned that Leo would find “a wounded Argentina, a divided Argentina.”

Leo’s own background points the same way. As a missionary priest in Peru for two decades, he embraced a pastoral style reminiscent of Francis, who as Archbishop of Buenos Aires expanded the ranks of priests serving in the city’s crime-ridden informal settlements. In his speech, Leo grounded his argument in the Church’s social doctrine and papal teaching spanning more than six decades, invoking St John Paul II — the last pope to visit Argentina, in 1987 — among others.

That tradition also ran through Francis’ papacy. His 2020 encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” criticised laissez-faire economics and defended social justice and workers’ rights.

Analysts had warned before the visit that the Pope’s words would be read politically whether he intended it or not. “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.

Others see the visit as a source of energy for those who feel shut out. “Leo’s visit to Argentina will create a sense of unity and energy among those who feel excluded by Milei’s economic programme,” said Fortunato Mallimaci, a sociologist at Argentina’s Conicet research agency.

What happens next on the visit

The most watched part of the trip may be what happens on Monday, 9 November. On his first full day in Argentina, Leo is due to visit a Catholic home for people with disabilities in Claypole, about 26 kilometres from Buenos Aires.

The Cottolengo Don Orione, which has about 400 residents, will put Milei’s cuts to disability funding in the spotlight. The facility’s coordinator, Fernando Montero, has said government deliveries of medications, special foods and nappies have stopped. Milei’s government has made wide-ranging cuts to disability benefits, and poverty remains a challenge despite falling significantly from its peak during the president’s first year in office.

The Pope’s itinerary in Argentina also includes a Mass in Buenos Aires, a visit to the federal prison of Devoto, meetings with workers and representatives of religious communities, a youth vigil on 10 November, and a Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján on 11 November, before he flies on to Peru on Wednesday.

The visit to the disability home and the prison is deliberate. Both are places where the people Milei’s cuts have hit hardest are easiest to see — and where a pope’s presence is hardest for a government to ignore.

Why this visit matters beyond Argentina

Leo’s Argentina stop matters for reasons that reach beyond one country. Over his 18-month papacy, he has urged world leaders to treat immigrants more humanely and called for action to address climate change — appeals that have put him at odds with US President Donald Trump and other right-wing leaders. He drew Trump’s ire earlier this year after denouncing the Iran war, a war Milei has strongly supported.

Leo, who last week voted by mail in the US midterm elections, has also emerged as a more forceful voice on the world stage, decrying the direction of global leadership. The Pope usually speaks in careful, diplomatic language on foreign visits. In Argentina, he was careful — but he was also clear.

For Milei, the visit is a risk. He invited the Pope, welcomed him warmly, and praised his predecessor in glowing terms. But the man he welcomed then told him, in front of the country, that power has limits, that growth must reach the poor, and that the economy exists for people — not the other way round.

For Argentina, the visit is a moment of national attention that has been 39 years coming. Whether it changes anything depends on what happens after the Pope leaves on Wednesday. But for three days, at least, the country’s divisions are on full display — and the most powerful voice in the Catholic world has told its president, face to face, that people must come first.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Pope Leo XIV visiting Argentina?

Pope Leo XIV is on a 12-day, three-nation tour of South America, covering Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. Argentina is the second stop. It is the first visit by a pope to Argentina since John Paul II in 1987 — a gap of 39 years. Pope Francis, who was born in Argentina, never returned home during his 12-year pontificate.

What did the Pope say to President Milei?

In his first public speech in Argentina, at the Palacio Libertad in Buenos Aires, Leo said “the economy must serve the person, not the person the economy”. He told Milei that “authority is most authentic when it is exercised as service” and that leaders must “acknowledge the limits of the power entrusted to them”. He also called for growth that benefits the disadvantaged, investment in universities, and care in the use of artificial intelligence.

Who is Pope Leo XIV?

Leo, 71, is the first pope born in the United States. He served for nearly two decades as a missionary priest in Peru and became a Peruvian citizen. He is making the South American tour less than a month after undergoing surgery for lung cancer.

What is the rest of the Pope’s itinerary in Argentina?

On Monday, 9 November, he visits the Cottolengo Don Orione home for people with disabilities in Claypole. The programme also includes a Mass in Buenos Aires, a visit to the Devoto federal prison, a youth vigil on 10 November, and a Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján on 11 November. He flies on to Peru on Wednesday.

How many people are expected to see the Pope?

Argentine officials estimate that around seven million people will see the Pope during his visit to Argentina. Large crowds gathered to greet him on his arrival in Buenos Aires on Sunday.

Sources

• The Week (AP): “Pope arrives in Argentina, tells Milei people, not economy, should come first” — https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/international/2026/11/09/pope-arrives-in-argentina-tells-milei-people-not-economy-should-come-first.html
• GMA News (Reuters): “Pope Leo tells Argentina’s Trump-ally Milei that leaders must know limits of power” — https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/world/1008824/pope-leo-tells-argentina-s-trump-ally-milei-that-leaders-must-know-limits-of-power/story/
• Free Malaysia Today (AFP): “Pope takes Milei to task as he visits divided Argentina” — https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2026/11/09/pope-takes-milei-to-task-as-he-visits-divided-argentina
• Malay Mail: “Pope Leo challenges Milei on poverty and spending cuts” — https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2026/11/09/pope-leo-challenges-milei-on-poverty-and-spending-cuts/242537
• Journalarta: “Pope Leo Argentina visit — disability funding, Milei” — https://journalarta.com/en/2026/11/08/pope-leo-argentina-visit-disability-funding-milei/

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.