Overview
- Pope Leo arrived in Buenos Aires and used an opening speech to say “the economy must serve the person,” a direct moral challenge to Javier Milei’s libertarian austerity program.
- On Monday he visited the Pequeño Cottolengo care home for people with disabilities to spotlight services hit by budget cuts and to meet residents and staff who say payments and therapies have been frozen.
- The pope celebrated a packed open‑air Mass in Buenos Aires that officials and multiple outlets estimated at about two to 2.5 million attendees, the largest crowd of his papacy.
- Leo met business, labor and social leaders and warned about unregulated artificial intelligence and the need for resource policies that benefit communities, contrasts with Milei’s push to attract investment by loosening protections.
- Argentina’s bishops have repeatedly criticized Milei’s measures and an analysis counted 42 of 44 policy statements critical through September 2026, a backdrop that gives the pope’s interventions weight as the Senate prepares to consider disability funding.