Pope Leo on Sunday (November 8) urged Argentina to safeguard its democracy in a closely watched speech to President Javier Milei, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, during the second stop of a 12-day South American tour by the Catholic leader.

Leo told Milei, who has said he will seek re-election next year, that leaders must seek to better the lives of all their citizens and know the limits of their power. Milei's austerity agenda has been criticized by the Church for hitting the poorest most, and the president has strongly supported the Iran war.

"Authority is most authentic when it is exercised as service," the pope said in an address opening a three-day visit to Argentina, the first by a pope to the majority-Catholic country since 1987.

"Those who exercise authority have a duty to act with prudence, to acknowledge the limits of the power entrusted to them, and to direct their decisions toward the good of the entire community," said Leo, the first US-born pope, who drew Trump's ire earlier this year after denouncing the Iran war.

The pope, who made a historic choice for a Catholic leader to cast a ballot by mail in the US midterm elections last week, also said democracy requires that people learn to live together despite differences of opinion and have confidence in the rule of law.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (NOVEMBER 8, 2026) (HOST BROADCASTER - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF POPE LEO AND ARGENTINE PRESIDENT, JAVIER MILEI, EXITING CASA ROSADA

2. MILEI AND HIS SISTER, SECRETARY OF THE PRESIDENCY, KARINA MILEI, SAYING GOODBYE TO POPE LEO

3. VARIOUS OF POPE LEO BOARDING VEHICLE

4. POPE ARRIVING TO MEET MAYOR OF BUENOS AIRES CITY, JORGE MACRI

5. VARIOUS OF MACRI AND HIS WIFE, MARIA BELEN LUDUEANA, HANDING POPE LEO KEYS TO THE CITY

6. MACRI SAYING GOODBYE TO POPE LEO

7. VARIOUS OF POPE LEO BOARDING VEHICLE

8. POPE AND MILEI WALKING INTO PALACIO LIBERTAD AHEAD OF POPE LEO'S ADDRESS

9. AUDIENCE SITTING INSIDE THE VENUE

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARGENTINE PRESIDENT, JAVIER MILEI, SAYING (SOUNDBITE CONTINUES OVER SHOTS OF ATTENDEES CLAPPING)

“I want to begin by remembering, dear Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis, the most… without a doubt, the most important Argentine in history and the first Latin American Pope.”

11. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CLAPPING

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARGENTINE PRESIDENT, JAVIER MILEI, SAYING:

“This Christian tradition taught that power has limits and must respect the dignity and rights of every person. A teaching that we strive to honor today in Argentina. That is why His Holiness Leo XIV’s visit transcend temporary differences and divisions and should bring together all Argentines so that we can look inward, toward what makes us human. In doing so, we will recognize much more of what unites us that what separates us.”

13. POPE LEO AND MILEI SITTING ON STAGE

14. ATTENDEES CLAPPING

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) POPE LEO XIV, SAYING (SOUNDBITE CONTINUES OVER SHOTS OF ATTENDEES CLAPPING):

“Democracy is also strengthened in the everyday way of acting in public life, in the openness to listening, in the mindful use of language, in the patient search for agreements, and and through the ability to see those who think differently as fellow citizens with whom we share a common future. In this way, a trust is forged that allows a society to face its differences without losing awareness of what keeps it united. Those who have received public responsibilities have an extremely demanding task. Authority reaches its highest meaning when it is exercised as service, when it looks beyond the immediate, and when it puts its capacities in the service of what belongs to everyone. Those who exercise authority have a duty to act with prudence, to acknowledge the limits of the power entrusted to them, and to direct their decisions toward the good of the entire community.”

16. VARIOUS OF ATTENDEES CLAPPING

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) POPE LEO XIV, SAYING (SOUNDBITE ENDS WITH ATTENDEES CLAPPING)

"The economy must be at the service of the person and not the person at the service of the economy."

18. POPE LEO MILEI STANDING ON STAGE

19. POPE LEO LEAVING VENUE