BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Pope Leo XIV renewed his call Monday for Argentina to protect its weakest and most vulnerable people as he visited a home for people with disabilities in a symbolically powerful rebuke of President Javier Milei's austerity measures.
On his first full day in Argentina, Leo made a pilgrimage to the Cottolengo Don Orione in Claypole, south of Buenos Aires. Founded by an Italian priest in 1935, the institution houses more than 400 people with disabilities on its 123-acre (50-hectare) grounds.
The center, known as the "city of charity," has been hit hard by Milei's austerity measures, which have severely affected healthcare and social services. Milei has taken his signature chain saw to specialized therapy programs that for decades have been a lifeline for many of Argentina's estimated 5 million people with disabilities, freezing payments and dismantling a vital safety net.
Some residents and employees wept as Leo arrived Monday and embraced people in wheelchairs. He chatted with them and blessed them and told them their lives were a blessing, not a burden on society.
“You can help us to remember the foundation of the dignity of every human being and what is truly important in life,” Leo said in the center’s chapel. He said he dreamed that Argentines would be inspired to replace the pursuit of economic success and the “cult of outward appearances” with “great works of charity” like the Cottolengo home.
“A nation’s progress is also measured by how it welcomes all people with disabilities and particular needs,” he said.
Argentina’s Congress overrode Milei’s veto last year to pass a law increasing funding for disability care. But his administration has resisted implementing it, citing concerns that it would undermine his hard-won fiscal balance. Care homes such as Cottolengo are still owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Leo’s visit comes days before the Senate is due to consider legislation that would set aside money for disability benefits in next year’s budget. Milei opposes the measure.
Given the circumstances, it was deeply significant that Leo chose to start his visit to Argentina by meeting with the Cottolengo guests, said Kuyen Rolon Rey, a volunteer at the home.
“The people here deserve this grace,” Rolon Rey said. “Choosing such a small place, but big if measured with love, makes us very happy.”
A message to Argentine business and labor
The visit kicked off a busy day for Leo in which the American pope, fulfilling the unfinished legacy of Argentine Pope Francis, is emphasizing Catholic social teaching that calls for putting the weakest and most vulnerable at the center of economic policy.
Upon arrival Sunday and with Milei at his side, Leo cited Francis' frequent refrain that money must serve and not rule: "The economy must serve the person, not the person the economy," Leo said in his first speech in Argentina.
It’s a message Leo is expected to repeat later Monday when he meets with business leaders, union representatives and leaders of popular movements at the Catholic University of Argentina.
Among those invited are domestic manufacturers battered by cheap imports since Milei scrapped long-standing trade barriers, and members of Argentina’s largest labor confederation, who took their worries over job losses and shrinking wages to the Vatican in September.
Since Milei took office in late 2023, his austerity agenda has made him an icon of the global conservative backlash against the liberal establishment. Much like its allies in the Trump administration, Milei's government has portrayed the cuts to disability programs as part of a reform process aimed at eliminating fraud and waste in the federal bureaucracy.
First papal Mass in nearly 40 years
For many Argentines, the day’s highlight was to be Leo’s late-morning Mass at the Monumento a los Españoles, which was expected to draw as many as 2 million people. The same site hosted the last papal Mass in Argentina, celebrated by St. John Paul II nearly 40 years ago.
Thousands arrived at midnight to secure a good spot for Leo’s first Mass in Argentina.
Isabel Martín, 73, came with her parish group from San Andrés Avelino. She said she was praying for Leo to “touch the heart” of Milei, whose spending cuts have also hit pensioners hard.
“The pope was very specific in his message yesterday,” she said, referring to Leo’s inaugural speech to Milei. “The weakest cannot be the ones carrying the burden of the adjustment, especially poor retirees. If anyone can make him reconsider, it’s the pope.”
Argentina’s minimum pension is approximately $300, about a quarter of what an older adult needs to cover medicine, housing and food.
Leo’s message was also resonating with younger Argentines, who have shown the sharpest decline in Catholic practice of any age group. Margarita Lanús celebrated her 16th birthday Monday while waiting for Leo’s Mass, sharing a cake on the sidewalk with her large family.
“I really like that he says things as they are; he goes straight to the point,” she said.
Leo has been welcomed by huge and adoring crowds in Buenos Aires, the second stop of his three-nation tour of South America that ends later this week in his second homeland of Peru.
Late Sunday, groups of faithful chanting “Pope Leo, Pope Leo,” and “Long live the pope” gathered in front of the Vatican's embassy, or nunciature, where Leo is staying. A smiling Leo stepped outside to greet them and offered his blessing.
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AP reporter Isabel DeBre contributed.
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