Leo’s planned Argentina visit highlights divisions with Milei over social spending

Pope Leo XIV was due to visit Argentina for three days, according to the Guardian’s 8 November 2026 report, with stops highlighting tensions over President Javier Milei’s economic policies. His itinerary included a Catholic-run disability home near Buenos Aires, meetings with business and union leaders, and Mass at a state-owned aircraft factory whose workers had protested spending cuts.

The disability home’s coordinator said government deliveries of medicines, special foods and diapers had stopped the previous November, with the dispute before the courts. Milei’s government said spending reductions were necessary to curb inflation. Social policy minister Sandra Pettovello played down expectations of political friction, saying the pope would not comment on domestic politics.

Disability support was already an unresolved church-state dispute: Argentina’s bishops had appealed to the health minister, and two subsequent meetings had not settled the issue. The planned visit therefore brought attention to institutions reporting shortages, although the article did not establish what Leo would say or whether funding arrangements would change.