Pope Leo urges President Milei, a Trump ally, to ‘safeguard democracy’ on arrival in Argentina

By Christopher Lamb, CNN

Buenos Aires (CNN) — Pope Leo XIV has called on Argentine President Javier Milei and the country’s political leaders to “safeguard democracy” and demonstrate a “careful use of words” during his first speech in Buenos Aires.

The American pope arrived in Argentina on Sunday, embarking on a trip that his predecessor, the first Argentine pope, was never able to make.

Leo’s highly anticipated papal visit to Argentina began with a private meeting with President Milei shortly after the pope landed. Milei has received strong backing from US President Donald Trump, with whom Leo, first American pontiff, has publicly disagreed, particularly on the treatment of migrants and the war in Iran.

The pope’s visit comes at a time when Milei’s “chainsaw” austerity measures have led to welfare spending cuts. Milei has also equated state-led social justice programs with communism and has also been accused of undermining democracy through attacks on the press and divisive rhetoric. He has also struggled to secure bipartisan agreements.

“Democracy, then, is also a part of Argentina’s heritage that needs to be safeguarded,” the pope said at a meeting with politicians, members of civic society and the diplomatic corps at the Palacio Libertad. “Democracy is also strengthened by the daily conduct of public life: through willingness to listen, through careful use of words, through 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.”

The Chicago-born pontiff, who recently cast a mail-in ballot during the US mid-term elections, talked about the importance of the “freedom to elect one’s own leaders through the ballot box.” He urged leaders to recognize the limits of their power, and said that democracy is protected by “confidence in the law”, the ability to freely express convictions and for institutions to serve all parties.

“Authority is most authentic when it is exercised as service, when it looks beyond the immediate, and when it uses its power to promote the welfare of all,” the pope said. An eruption of applause from the audience forced him to repeat his next line: “Those who exercise authority have a duty to act with prudence, to acknowledge the limits of the power entrusted to them.”

Leo’s November 8-11 trip is the first papal visit to Argentina in almost four decades and it comes with the added dimension that Pope Francis did not make a return trip home during his 12-year-papacy. Millions are expected to attend the various services and events while the pope is in the country.

Francis’ decision not to visit Argentina was something even his closest friends were unable to explain. Some have suggested the late pope’s reluctance to visit was linked to Argentina’s polarized political culture, with Francis wary that his presence in the country could be weaponized.

The Argentine pope had a strong emphasis on the church helping the most marginalized in society. Francis lamented Argentina’s economic decline which he blamed on decades of bad governance. He contrasted the roughly 5% inflation rate he recalled from his youth with the soaring inflation and high poverty rates of recent years.

In his speech, Leo cited Argentina’s “abundance of human resources” but called for its “wealth bear fruit for the benefit of all and warned that corruption undermines trust in institutions.

Before his election as pope in 2013, Francis served as archbishop of Buenos Aires, where he spoke out on social justice and was unafraid to criticize political leaders.

Leo’s visit, the second leg of his 12-day tour of South America, will underline the ways he continues the reforms of his predecessor, but with his own distinctive style.

Pope Leo, in contrast, has made the church’s social teaching and concern for the marginalized a central concern of his papacy. His itinerary in Argentina includes a visit to a federal prison in Buenos Aires and a stop at a care center for people with intellectual and physical disabilities in Claypole which has been affected by the Milei cuts.

During his presidential campaign and in the years leading up to it, Milei repeatedly insulted Francis, calling him an “imbecile” for defending social justice, “the representative of the evil one on earth” and a “sh*t of a pope.” Milei later apologized for these remarks and called Francis “the most important Argentine in history” following the pontiff’s death in April 2025.

Milei and Francis met in the Vatican in February 2024, with the pope joking with the president: “you cut your hair!” — a reference to the unruly hairstyle which earned Milei the nickname “The Wig.” Milei replied that he had “tidied it up.”

Leo and Milei previously met at the Vatican in June 2025. After meeting Milei in the Casa Rosada on his arrival in Buenos Aires, the pope was presented with the keys to the city of the Argentine capital by the mayor, Jorge Macri.

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CNN’s Claudia Rebaza contributed to this report.