President Javier Milei was moved to tears during Pope Leo XIV’s farewell at Ezeiza airport, at the end of a four-day visit, the first by a pontiff to Argentina in 39 years. The Pope left for Peru, the second leg of his South American tour, after celebrating his last Mass at the Basilica of Luján.
Milei, accompanied by his sister and presidential chief of staff, Karina Milei, and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, greeted the Pope and the bishops present and walked him to the steps of the plane, an Aerolíneas Argentinas Airbus A330. While the aircraft was still waiting to depart, the three embraced, as behind a fence a group of children waved small Vatican flags. The plane began taxiing at 2.14 p.m.
Javier Milei in tears, absolutely balling his eyes out, thanking Pope Leo XIV for his visit, as he asks the Pope repeatedly to pray for him. This has been an incredibly well organised trip. Everyone involved should rightly be praised. Argentina you won. https://t.co/1vAO8wZqXp
Earlier, in Luján, the Pope bade farewell to the faithful. “Thank you for receiving me with such affection. Thank you, Argentina, for receiving me with open arms. Farewell, my dear Argentina!” he said. Official figures reported by Argentine media put the crowd at the Mass at more than three million people, which have not been independently verified. At the start, he placed a Golden Rose, the highest honour the Vatican grants to Marian shrines, at the feet of the image of the Virgin. According to Infobae, he said in his farewell message that the country “now has two Popes, one born here and one by adoption”.
The day had begun at the Devoto prison in Buenos Aires, where the Pope listened to some 70 inmates. “I hope to take away the message that a new life is possible,” he said, according to the news site MDZ.
The visit began on Sunday with a speech to the authorities, with Milei present, in which the Pope said that “the economy must be at the service of the person”. On Monday he celebrated Mass in Palermo, with some 2.5 million people according to the authorities, and on Tuesday another in Córdoba, with some 650,000, according to El País. The visit was preceded by tensions between the government and the Catholic hierarchy over austerity policies. Milei, who harshly criticised Pope Francis in the past, described him on Sunday as “the most important Argentine in history”.
The Pope arrives in Lima tonight, where President Keiko Fujimori will receive him at the Government Palace. Between November 13 and 16 he will visit Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa, among other places, and he will return to Rome on the 16th.