Argentina: Pope Leo XIV welcomed by Javier Milei for historic visit

Argentine President Javier Milei welcomed Pope Leo XIV at Jorge Newbery Airport, where the two leaders shook hands before standing side by side on a red carpet for an official ceremony featuring the national guard. The pope also greeted Karina Milei, the president's sister and secretary general of the presidency, Argentina's senior clergy and a group of children and young people on the tarmac.

That night the Obelisco was illuminated with a projection of the pontiff's face, the first switch-on in a city-wide illumination of monuments and façades, from the Floralis Genérica and Planetario to the Teatro Colón and Cabildo, dressed in Vatican yellow and white.

The four-day visit, the first papal trip to Argentina since John Paul II in 1987, is the second leg of a 12-day tour that began in Uruguay and ends in Peru. It resonates because Argentina is the homeland of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who never returned during his 12-year papacy.

The meeting with Milei, whose austerity has reshaped the economy, produced a pointed contrast: the pope said "the economy must serve the person, not the person."