Pope delivers veiled rebuke of Milei's austerity measures

What the report says

Pope Leo XIV used his arrival in Buenos Aires, the second stop on a 12-day Latin America tour, to deliver a measured but pointed warning to Argentina’s President Javier Milei over his austerity agenda. According to BBC World News, the pope said the economy should serve the people, not the other way around, and argued that growth must benefit everyone, including those in poverty or facing illness, disability or dependency.

The remarks came amid long-running tensions between Milei’s libertarian government and the Catholic Church, which has criticized cuts to public spending as especially harmful to poorer Argentines. BBC World News reported that the pope also called for democracy to be protected through prudence, listening and careful language, comments that appeared to challenge Milei’s confrontational political style.

Milei responded by defending his economic approach, saying his government was trying to avoid harming future Argentines for the sake of present ones. He also welcomed the pope warmly during the visit, a contrast with his earlier harsh criticism of Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis. The trip is being seen as politically sensitive and, more broadly, as a symbolic return to Argentina by a pope closely linked to the country’s Catholic identity and public debate over poverty, spending and democratic norms.