“I have come as the Successor of the Apostle Peter and, therefore, as a Pastor,” Pope Leo XIV told Argentina’s leaders on Sunday 8 November, beginning his visit to the homeland of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
With President Javier Milei among those listening at Buenos Aires’ Palacio Libertad, the Holy Father called on public officials to protect human dignity, listen to opposing views and serve families struggling to support themselves.
Argentina had last welcomed a Pope in 1987, when St John Paul II visited. Pope Francis never returned during his pontificate.
On Monday 9 November, Pope Leo XIV met residents, staff and volunteers at the Pequeño Cottolengo Don Orione de Claypole, a centre serving people with disabilities.
“Today I would like to affirm that your lives are not a burden on society,” he told them.
He thanked those whose daily care made the centre a place of belonging and friendship and urged Argentina’s young people to volunteer in works of charity.
At the Catholic University of Argentina, he addressed workers, employers, trade unions and popular movements. Waste pickers, farmers and artisans featured in his account of communities organising themselves to confront economic hardship.
He recalled Pope Francis’ insistence on land, housing and work, defended workers’ associations and urged governments and businesses to support local initiatives. Economic activity, he said, must serve human dignity.
Pope Leo travelled to Córdoba on Tuesday 10 November and celebrated Mass at the Military Aviation School, where local authorities estimated that 650,000 people gathered.
He recalled the missionary lives of St José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero and Mama Antula, who joined prayer with service to others.
“This is our task here on earth: to attain perfect union with God,” he said, explaining that holiness carries a responsibility to make Christ known.
Cardinal Ángel Sixto Rossi welcomed him that afternoon at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.
Bishops, clergy, religious, seminarians and pastoral workers gathered outside the cathedral, where four speakers shared their testimonies.
Drawing on St Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, Leo warned that the demands of ministry can leave people working for God while spending less time with him.
He urged a return to the Eucharist, Scripture and prayer.
He warned against using pastoral reasons to excuse wrongdoing, and against choosing comfort over the needs of others. No stage of life removes the need for conversion, he told the gathering.
He recognised the Argentine Church’s service to people who suffer, naming hunger, injustice, illness, loneliness, unemployment and inadequate housing among the needs demanding Christian charity.
Quoting Pope Francis, he said: “The Church is not a business; it is not a humanitarian agency; the Church is not an NGO”.
He repeated his predecessor’s warning that a Church which failed to bring Jesus to others would become “a dead Church”.
Those who suffer also need the greatest gift the Church possesses, Jesus Christ, he said. He called his listeners to make that encounter possible through the Word, the sacraments and closeness to people in their daily lives.
The passage came from Francis’ general audience of 23 October 2013, when he presented Mary as a model for the Church. Visiting Elizabeth, Mary brought practical assistance and Jesus, whom she carried in her womb.
Leo urged confession, openness to correction and perseverance when ministry becomes difficult.
He encouraged his listeners to remain available for the work God asks of them.
He returned to Buenos Aires for a youth vigil that evening, where about one million people gathered, according to local estimates.
On Wednesday 11 November, he visited a Buenos Aires prison and celebrated Mass outside the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján before departing for Peru.
“Go and evangelise; proclaim the joy of the Gospel through words and good deeds,” he said in his closing homily.
In Lima on Thursday 12 November, the Holy Father addressed families and civic life outside the Cathedral Basilica of St John the Apostle and Evangelist.
He called for respect for women and girls, condemned domestic violence and urged married couples to share domestic responsibilities fairly, without subordinating one to the other.
He acknowledged families facing economic hardship, migration and addiction, and the mothers who struggle alone to raise children.
“God loves all families, especially those going through crises,” he said.