Pope Leo in Argentina: plain language against Milei's chainsaw policy

They walk the last few kilometers. To Luján, where Pope Leo XIV celebrates a mass at the end of his visit to Argentina. Several hundred people from the slums of Buenos Aires, from rehabilitation projects and from Caritas have come together for this. And their loud procession starts under a highway bridge with a mass.

Father Carlos Moreno says: "We came here because we want to carry on the legacy of Francis, together with Leo. The perspective that Pope Leo gives us - just as Francis did - is to look at the weakest, at the poorest and at the most needy."

This perspective plays a very special role on the first visit of a pope to Argentina in 39 years. President Javier Milei is dividing the country with his chainsaw policies and severe cuts in health, education and social welfare spending.

Great wave of enthusiasm for the Pope

Pope Leo criticizes this clearly and not very diplomatically. During a visit to a facility for people with disabilities in Buenos Aires, he said: "The progress of a nation is also measured by how it welcomes people with disabilities and special needs," the Pope said.

"At this very special moment, I would like to share with you all my wish for this country: May Argentina be able to carry out great works of charity like those we see here, where the love of Christ triumphs over individualism and exclusion."

It is statements like these that trigger a great wave of enthusiasm in Argentina. Also under the motorway bridge near Luján. Adriana Rearte is pleased that the Pope speaks plainly. "Hope had somehow fallen asleep, was in a bit of a sleeping beauty sleep. But he came to bring hope, to bring love, to proclaim the word of God and to speak about one's neighbor."

Milei receptive to the Pope?

She is skeptical that the papal message will actually reach the recipient. In previous meetings, President Milei has applauded Leo's statements. Will he change his political style? Gabriela Salicio accompanies a group of young people with addictions to the service with the Pope. "The consequences are devastating, terrible. If the state withdraws and the drug trade as a whole continues to spread, it always ends up hitting the weakest."

Pope Leo hardly gives a damn about Milei's doctrine of a weak state and an unfettered economy. At times he praises free enterprise. But he says this sentence on two occasions: "People are the originator, center and goal of all economic and social life. That is why the economy must serve people and not people serve the economy."

The enthusiasm of the Argentinians seems to be good for Pope Leo. Just a few weeks after his cancer operation, he doesn't seem over-stressed given the many appointments and many encounters. Today, after the big service in the Marian shrine of Luján, Pope Leo XIV travels on to Peru.