Pope asks the Milei economy at the service of the people and alert for corruption

O Pope Leo XIV said today that “the economy must be at the service of the person, not the person at the service of the economy” during a public speech in Buenos Aires, in the presence of Argentine President Javier Milei.

In the first engagement after the arrival in Buenos Aires from Montevideo, Pope Leo XIV met with Milei at Casa Rosada and later, during a meeting with the authorities, representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps, at the Libertad Palace, gave a political speech.

The pontiff appealed, in his first intervention in Argentina, to allow “growth to also reach those who face greater difficulties”, referring above all to those in more vulnerable situations.

“ I think particularly of families who bear the weight of uncertainty, those who seek employment, the elderly who have contributed for years to build society and those who, even working, have difficulty meeting the needs of their household,” the Pope said.

Leo XIV said that “the economy must be at the service of the person, not the person at the service of the economy”, before President Milei, who since he came to power has implemented an ultra-liberal program, with cuts in public expenditure that mainly affected public sector workers, with tens of thousands of redundancies, and reductions in pensions and subsidies.

The Pope also insisted on the importance of the integrity of the leaders in his speech in the context of the visit integrated into a tour of Latin America, a region where various political figures have been or are imprisoned for corruption.

In the face of the political authorities and representatives of civil society, the Pope stressed the importance of “personal integrity of those entrusted with the responsibility of governing, because corruption undermines the trust of citizens in their institutions”.