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Pope Leo
The pope, who has made the defense of workers and the poor a central theme of his papacy, offered what many in Argentina interpreted as a veiled criticism of the libertarian’s sweeping austerity and deregulation reforms.
“I think in particular of the families who bear the burden of uncertainty… of the elderly who have spent years contributing to the construction of society and of those who, despite their employment, struggle to provide for the needs of their households,” the pontiff declared in front of a room bringing together religious and political leaders, including Milei, in Buenos Aires.
“The economy must serve the people, not the people serve the economy,” he added, to cheers and applause from opposition figures present.
Milei remained seated, mostly poker-faced, but regularly applauded during Pope Leo’s speech on Sunday, which also included warnings about AI – a technology the president has enthusiastically embraced, pledging to block all regulation and make Argentina the first country to allow “non-human societies.”
Milei later praised Leo’s speech in a local television interview as “a superlative lecture” that offered “very valuable” lessons. His troupe of libertarian social media influencers interpreted Leo’s celebration of the “right to make a living from your own work” as a free-market message.
In a speech before the pope’s address, Milei defended his economic shock therapy as an effort to protect “future generations” after lavish spending by previous Argentine governments triggered a series of inflationary spirals and defaults.
“When we make decisions, we do not focus on the needs of a single sector at any given time, but rather on the benefit of society as a whole, both in the present and in the future,” Milei said.
Pope Leo’s visit comes at a sensitive time for the president, a self-described anarcho-capitalist who has called social justice an “aberration” and taxes “theft.”
A year after his re-election bid, voters’ relief at Milei’s success in taming the severe inflation crisis he inherited has given way to frustration over a stalled economy and the uneven impact of his policies.
Private economists estimate that Argentina entered a technical recession in the third quarter of 2026. Milei’s approval rating has fallen to 38.5%, according to research institute AtlasIntel.
The pope is due to visit on Monday a center for people with disabilities, which local church leaders have named as a major casualty of the deep budget cuts through which Milei has generated one of the world’s few fiscal surpluses.
Pope Leo will spend three days in Argentina as part of a 12-day tour that also includes Uruguay and Peru, where the pontiff lived and worked for two decades.
This week’s visit is the first by a pope to Argentina in nearly 40 years. Pope Leo’s predecessor, Argentine Pope Francis, never returned to his native country during his 12-year pontificate.
Milei shocked Argentines during his 2023 campaign by repeatedly insulting Pope Francis, a former archbishop of Buenos Aires who had ties to figures in Argentina’s left-wing opposition. He called him a “dirty leftist” and a “representative of evil on Earth,” even though he mended fences once in power and went to meet him at the Vatican.
In his speech on Sunday, Milei remembered Pope Francis as “the most important Argentine in history.”
Peter Thiel, the American tech billionaire who has called supporters of tech regulation the “antichrist,” temporarily moved his family to Buenos Aires earlier this year and met with Milei and his top officials.
“Technological development requires an ethical conscience commensurate with its power,” Pope Leo told the crowd in Argentina.
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