Pope Leo XIV arrived in Argentina on Sunday, November 8, opening the second leg of his 12-day tour of South America. It is the first visit by a pope to the country since John Paul II travelled there in 1987, according to Al Jazeera and the Associated Press.
The Pope flew in from Montevideo after three days in Uruguay. Vatican News said the 365-kilometre flight took about an hour, landing at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires, where President Javier Milei greeted him at the foot of the aircraft steps.
A formal welcome in Buenos Aires
The arrival ceremony was held in the military area of the airport. Vatican News reported military honours, the national anthems of the Holy See and Argentina, and a floral offering presented by two children. The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Michael Wallace Banach, and Argentina’s Chief of Protocol boarded the plane to welcome the Pope before he stepped down.
Al Jazeera reported that Karina Milei, the President’s sister and presidential secretary, was also at the airport. The programme for the first evening included a tribute at the General San Martín monument, a meeting with President Milei at the Casa Rosada and an address to authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps.
What the Pope said in his first speech
In his first address on Argentine soil, the Pope spoke about the economy and public life. According to the Associated Press, he said: “The economy must serve the person, not the person the economy.”
AP reported that he recognised the value of free-market initiative while saying that growth should also reach disadvantaged groups, including the unemployed and retirees. He also called for civility in public debate, saying democracy depends on the careful use of words, and spoke about young people who feel they need to leave the country.
President Milei’s government has pursued spending cuts that it says are needed to control inflation. AP reported that inflation has fallen from around 200 per cent to around 32 per cent under these policies, while the Catholic Church in Argentina has raised concerns about their effect on poorer households. AP described the President’s tone at the welcome as conciliatory, and reported that he praised the late Pope Francis as the most important Argentine in history.
Why this visit carries special meaning
Pope Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires and served as the city’s archbishop from 1998 until his election in 2013, never returned to Argentina during his papacy. He died in 2025. Leo, 71, is the first pope born in the United States, and later in the tour he travels to Peru, where he spent years serving as a bishop.
Al Jazeera, citing a Pew Research Center survey, reported that the share of Argentines who identify as Catholic fell from 71 per cent in 2013-2014 to 58 per cent a decade later.
What is next on the itinerary
The Argentina leg runs until Wednesday, November 11. The published programme, as reported by MercoPress, includes:
- Monday, November 9: A visit to the Pequeño Cottolengo Don Orione home in Claypole, an open-air Mass in Palermo, Buenos Aires, and meetings with business leaders, trade unionists, social movements and leaders of other faiths
- Tuesday, November 10: Mass in Córdoba, followed by a youth vigil in Buenos Aires in the evening
- Wednesday, November 11: A visit to the Devoto prison complex, Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján and a farewell ceremony at Ezeiza airport before flying to Lima
- Tour ends: In Peru on November 16, according to Vatican News
For readers in the UAE following the tour, Buenos Aires is seven hours behind UAE time, so Monday’s late-morning Mass in Palermo falls in the evening in the Gulf. Several of the main events are expected to be streamed by Vatican News.
The trip began in Uruguay on November 6. Read our earlier report on the start of Pope Leo XIV’s South America tour in Uruguay.
Sources: Vatican News, Associated Press via PBS NewsHour, Al Jazeera, MercoPress
