Pope Leo XIV arrives in Argentina on a trip in honor of Francis

Pope Leo XIV arrived this Sunday (8) in Argentina, the second stop on his trip to Latin America. The country's president, Javier Milei, went to the airport to receive the pontiff, who had not yet disembarked until the last update of this report.

The pontiff landed in Buenos Aires after a visit to Uruguay. After Argentina, he will head to Peru, the last stop of the trip.

This is the first visit by a pope to Argentina in 39 years. The last pontiff to set foot on Argentine soil was John Paul II, in April 1987. Pope Francis, who was Argentine, never visited his country during his papacy.

Leo XIV said that his trip to the country is a tribute to Francisco.

A plane carrying Pope Leo XIV arrives at Jorge Newbery Airport, in Buenos Aires, this Sunday (8) — Photo: Agustin Marcarian/Reuters

“I come with great joy to complete the trip that Francisco was unable to do,” he told Argentine journalists present on the flight between Rome and Montevideo, on Friday (6).

But this is not Robert Prevost's first trip to Argentina.

The previous one, in March 2013, took place six days before Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis. In the first, in August 2004, Robert Prevost participated in a mass with the then archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio.

Later, the two would become pope.

In Uruguay, the pontiff made an appeal for the unity of people and also asked that men treat their wives "with respect", during the last mass he held in the country, before leaving for Argentina.

"Dear fathers and grandfathers, young people need to see you pray, approach the sacraments, treat your wives with respect, ask for forgiveness and live honestly, even when it requires sacrifices," said the head of the Catholic Church during an open-air mass in the city of Florida, 100 km north of Montevideo.

In 2024, at least 3,828 women suffered violent deaths for gender reasons in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the most recent data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The pope visited Florida for the celebration of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three, a 36-centimeter image carved in cedar that, according to tradition, comes from the Guaraní Jesuit missions and which, since 1825, has been linked to Uruguay's independence from the Spanish colony.