President Milei welcomes Pope Leo during historic visit to Argentina

Papa Leão torna-se o primeiro pontífice a votar nas eleições gerais dos EUA.

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Papa Leo XIV chega para tour na América do Sul após cirurgia de câncer.

Milei and his sister, presidential secretary Karina Milei, greeted the pope on Sunday amid tensions between the government and Argentina’s Catholic Church over austerity measures.

Antes de sua chegada, o papa passou três dias no Uruguai, a primeira parada em sua turnê pela América Latina.

He is the first pontiff to visit Argentina in nearly four decades, since John Paul II’s trip in 1987.

In Argentina, Pope Leo’s schedule includes attending a welcome ceremony at Plaza San Martin and a meeting with Milei at the Casa Rosada, the official presidential palace.

Mas a visita do pontífice ocorre em meio à diminuição da adesão à Igreja Católica na América Latina, bem como a uma relação às vezes conflituosa com políticos como Milei.

Catholics comprise the largest religious group in Latin America, with as many as 425 million people identifying with the church.

But their numbers have shrunk over the last decade. A Pew Research Center survey found that, in Argentina, the percentage of self-identifying Catholics slipped from 71 percent in the 2013-2014 year to 58 percent a decade later.

Milei himself has suggested he considered converting to Judaism, though he was raised in the Catholic faith.

A Igreja Católica também criticou as medidas de austeridade de Milei, que incluíram cortes nos gastos sociais e nos programas de rede de segurança para os pobres.

Milei has defended the budget cuts as necessary to bring inflation under control.

Some members of the Catholic clergy, however, have taken a visible role in the protests against Milei’s measures.

Leo, 71, o primeiro papa nascido nos EUA, permanecerá na Argentina até quarta-feira e se encontrará com autoridades, diplomatas e representantes da sociedade civil.

He will also visit a prison and celebrate mass in Buenos Aires, Lujan, and the province of Cordoba, before travelling to Peru, where he spent years serving as a bishop.

O papa anterior, Francisco, nasceu em Buenos Aires em 1936 e foi o primeiro papa das Américas, mas nunca visitou seu país de origem como chefe da Igreja Católica.

He and Milei had a notably contentious relationship, with the Argentinian president calling the late pontiff a “communist” and an “imbecile who defends social justice”.

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