BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Pope Leo XIV delivered a sweeping tribute to the dignity of workers before Argentina’s labor and business leaders Monday in what critics of Argentine President Javier Milei took as a rebuke to his libertarian agenda, capping a day that began at a disability home struggling under his government’s spending cuts.
The two politically charged stops bookended Leo’s first Mass in Argentina, which the Vatican said drew an estimated
2.5 million people — the largest crowd of his papacy.
His visit has electrified this predominantly Catholic country that had not hosted a papal visit in nearly four decades. Leo’s Argentine predecessor, Pope Francis, never once returned home during his 12-year papacy, a decision widely attributed to his wariness of becoming a pawn in the nation’s polarized politics.
Leo, an American with no such personal stake, waded into the fray Monday with a subtle but unmistakable message rooted in Catholic social teaching but prioritized by Francis. He was interrupted repeatedly by applause during his speech, especially when he quoted Francis' famous three Ts of the basic requirements for social justice: “tierra, techo y trabajo,” or land, housing and work.
“To deprive a person of work is not simply to deny that person an income,” Leo said at the Catholic University of Argentina. “It severely wounds their dignity, deprives them of the ability to contribute to society and plunges them into social exclusion.”
In the audience was an unusual gathering of business leaders and workers.
It included union leaders who have staged general strikes against Milei and industrialists battered by cheap imports since the government scrapped trade barriers. Also on hand were informal workers, whose share of the labor force has climbed to 45% from 41% when Milei took office, as mass layoffs and a sputtering economy have wiped out formal jobs.
Most poignantly, there were the “cartoneros,” the Argentine trash pickers and recyclers who had a pride of place during Francis' papacy.
Opposition leaders heard a pope taking Milei to task. “Let them listen to him, those who have closed their ears,” said Buenos Aires province Gov. Axel Kicillof, the most powerful elected figure in the left-leaning Peronist opposition.
Milei has praised the pope’s message while steering clear of its substance. He called Leo’s speech to Argentine officials on Sunday, which defended pensioners and public universities squeezed by his cuts, “outstanding,” with “many elements of great value.” He declined to elaborate, saying he did not want to “fall into the mud of using the speech politically.”
Mercedes Cabezas, deputy secretary-general of the national state workers’ union, praised Leo's speech.
“It would be good and positive for the government to take note that its policies run counter to what the head of the Catholic Church has come to Argentina to preach,” Cabezas said.
But Leo’s itinerary spoke for itself. His first stop Monday was the Cottolengo Don Orione, a sprawling “city of charity” south of Buenos Aires that houses more than 400 people with disabilities. Residents and staff wept as he arrived, and he embraced people in wheelchairs.
He told them their lives were a blessing, not a burden.
“A nation’s progress is also measured by how it welcomes all people with disabilities and particular needs,” he said.
Milei’s government has withheld much of the funding for disability care despite a law Congress passed over his veto last year to restore it, prompting protests from Argentina’s Catholic bishops. As the cash-strapped home drew international attention ahead of Leo’s visit, authorities paid it about $535,000 for medicine, diapers and food, covering four of the 12 months it is owed, said Fernando Montero, who oversees its disability services. The Senate is due to consider legislation in the coming days that would earmark money for disability benefits in next year’s budget.
“The people here deserve this grace,” said Kuyen Rolon Rey, a volunteer. “Choosing such a small place, but big if measured with love, makes us very happy.”
Leo used the speech at the Catholic University to push back on core tenets of Milei’s libertarian creed, insisting that private property is “always subject to a social mortgage.”
“Wherever the domination of a few becomes the rule, work is turned into the exploitation of all components of the work community, and workers end up being valued solely for their efficiency,” Leo said.
For many in the room, that described life under Milei. “We are going through times when work is seen as an expense or a loss, as though people forget that behind every worker there is a family and human beings who feel, live and think,” Sabrina Soledad Sapone, a union delegate, told the pope at the gathering.
Leo hailed labor unions, which have led the fight against Milei’s free-market overhaul, as “indispensable institutions when they defend those who have no voice.” He also defended informal workers’ movements, which Milei’s government has barred from distributing welfare payments on the grounds that they foster dependency on the state.
Waste pickers, farmers and artisans “do not passively wait for state assistance,” Leo said. “They organize themselves from the grassroots to build community-based solutions.”
Leo — who took his name partly in response to the AI revolution — warned that “artificial intelligence and unregulated automation can put countless jobs at risk,” and called on governments to shield workers just as Milei, who opposes regulating the technology, courts billions of dollars in AI investment.
Thousands arrived at midnight to claim a spot at the Monumento a los Españoles, where St. John Paul II celebrated Argentina’s last papal Mass in 1987. The government declared a national holiday so people could attend. Milei and his sister, Karina Milei, the secretary-general of the presidency, sat in the VIP seats.
In his homily, Leo said Argentine families face joblessness, violence and addiction but remain the bedrock of society.
“Do not give in to those who dismiss the Christian family as outdated,” he said. “On the contrary, today more than ever, it remains a pillar amid the many insecurities of our time.”
Isabel Martín, 73, who came with her parish group, said she was praying for Leo to “touch the heart” of Milei, whose spending cuts have also hit pensioners hard.
“The pope was very specific in his message yesterday,” she said, referring to Leo’s inaugural speech with Milei. “The weakest cannot be the ones carrying the burden of the adjustment, especially poor retirees. If anyone can make him reconsider, it’s the pope.”
Argentina’s minimum pension is about $300, roughly a quarter of what an older adult needs to cover medicine, housing and food.
Leo’s message also resonated with younger Argentines, who have shown the sharpest decline in Catholic practice of any age group. Margarita Lanús, who turned 16 on Monday, shared a birthday cake on the sidewalk with her family while waiting for the Mass.
“I really like that he says things as they are,” she said. “He goes straight to the point.”
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