Pope's Argentina visit confronts Milei's spending cuts

Pope arrives in Argentina Monday

Pope Leo XIV begins his first full day in Argentina on Monday, November ninth, visiting Cottolengo Don Orione, a Catholic-run home for disabled people about twenty-six kilometres from Buenos Aires.

Home faces severe funding cuts

The facility, which counts about four hundred residents with disabilities, has been hit hard by President Javier Milei's cuts.The government cut off medications, special foods and diapers since last November, facility coordinator Fernando Montero said.

“[The government] cut off the supply of medications, special foods and diapers. They haven't delivered any since last November.”

Opposing ideologies on human worth

Montero said the pope and Milei have completely opposing ideologies. The pope teaches that a person's worth is not measured by productivity, while Milei is a hyper-capitalist who believes only those who compete most should…

“have completely opposing ideologies”

First papal visit since nineteen eighty-seven

Pope Leo XIV's three-day trip through Argentina is the first papal visit since John Paul II in nineteen eighty-seven. His predecessor, Pope Francis, who was Argentine, never returned to Argentina during his papacy.

Milei's past attacks on Francis

Milei, a far-right libertarian economist, called Pope Francis an imbecile and the representative of the Evil One on Earth in twenty twenty, accusing him of promoting communism.

“the representative of the Evil One on Earth”

Spending cuts hit retirees hard

Since taking office in December, Milei has slashed public spending to curb inflation. The thinktank Mate estimates retirees on minimum pension, sixty-three percent of the total, have lost about thirty percent of their purchasing power.

Retirees plead for papal help

Last Wednesday at the weekly retirees' march outside Congress, a man held up a cardboard sign reading, Save us Pope Leo XIV, Milei is killing us.

“Save us Pope Leo XIV, Milei is killing us”

Pope calls for disarming AI

In May, Pope Leo XIV called for disarming artificial intelligence. Milei has said he would not regulate AI technology and has instead presented bills to build datacentres across the country and grant legal status to…

Experts see clear contradiction

Milagros Miceli, a sociologist and computer scientist who leads the Critical AI Lab in Berlin, said the contradiction between the two is pretty evident.

“pretty evident”

Disability funding remains unresolved

Disability funding has been a flashpoint between church and state.Argentina's conference of bishops wrote to health minister Mario Lugones on April first, denouncing the serious situation facing institutions dedicated to care of people with disabilities.

“the serious situation facing numerous institutions dedicated to the care and support of people with disabilities”

Pope's itinerary speaks volumes

From the disability home, the pope will meet business and union leaders in Buenos Aires.

Pope's message will clash with Milei

Any mention of defending domestic production, labour, disability or social justice in the pope's rhetoric naturally clashes with the ideology Milei's government has been promoting, Esquivel said.

Clash expected to play out diplomatically

Mariano Oberlin, a Catholic priest in an impoverished neighbourhood of Córdoba, expects the clash to play out diplomatically.

“the Gospel invites us to feel like brothers, to respect each person's deep, inherent dignity, and to fight so that this dignity becomes real in access to rights”