Pope Leo urges Argentina to protect the vulnerable at a disability care home
The home has been hit by President Milei's austerity, and the Senate is due to take up a disability funding bill he opposes.
Pope Leo XIV visited the Cottolengo Don Orione on Monday, his first full day in Argentina. The care home in Claypole, south of Buenos Aires, was founded in 1935 by an Italian priest and shelters over 400 people with disabilities. The home has suffered from spending cuts introduced by President Javier Milei, whose administration presents the reductions to disability services as part of an overhaul aimed at ending fraud and waste.
Leo called on Argentina to protect its weakest and most vulnerable people. According to Euronews, he told residents their lives are a blessing and not a burden, and said a nation's progress is also measured by how it welcomes people with disabilities. Just days after the visit, the Senate will take up a disability funding bill that Milei opposes.
Leo, in his first speech on Sunday with Milei in attendance, said the economy exists for people, not people for the economy. Later Monday he was scheduled to meet business leaders, union representatives and popular movement leaders at the Catholic University of Argentina. Up to 2 million people were projected to attend a late-morning Mass.
Argentina is the second stop of his three-nation South America tour.
- over 400people with disabilities sheltered at Cottolengo Don OrioneABC News
- 5 millionestimated Argentines with disabilitiesABC News
- as many as 2 millionpeople expected at Leo's late-morning MassABC News
- 50 hectaressize of the Cottolengo siteABC News
Three sides of the story
17 news outlets reported this
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Liberal8 outlets
A papal rebuke of Milei's austerity cuts
ABC News runs the AP report, which opens with Leo pressing again on Argentina to care for its weakest and most vulnerable. The report calls the visit to the Claypole home a "symbolically powerful rebuke" of Milei's austerity. It says Milei has taken his "signature chain saw" to therapy programs, freezing payments and dismantling a safety net for many Argentines with disabilities.
It adds that the government portrays the cuts as reform against fraud and waste. It sets the visit just days ahead of the Senate's debate on a disability funding bill Milei opposes. It then follows Leo's day: his Sunday line that the economy must serve the person, the planned meeting with business and union leaders, and the Mass expected to draw up to 2 million people.
It closes with pilgrim Teresa Videla recalling John Paul II's visit and with crowds greeting Leo outside the nunciature.
Center6 outlets
The pope's message on disability and government resistance
Euronews leads with Leo urging Milei's government to protect the most vulnerable, and one of its subheads reads "Not a burden but a blessing." It quotes him saying a nation's progress "is also measured by how it welcomes all people with disabilities." It reports that he hugged residents in wheelchairs and that his arrival brought some workers and residents to tears.
It also reports that Congress overturned Milei's veto of a disability funding law last year, but the executive has resisted implementing it, citing fiscal balance. Care centers such as Cottolengo have debts of hundreds of thousands of euros, it says. It quotes volunteer Kuyen Rolon Rey: "The people here deserve this grace."
The Seattle Times runs the AP report, which calls the visit a "symbolically powerful rebuke" of Milei's austerity, adds subheads on business, labor and the Mass, and recounts the crowds and pilgrim Teresa Videla.
Conservative3 outlets
A symbolic rebuke of Milei's austerity
The Washington Times reports that Pope Leo XIV again urged Argentina on Monday to shield its frailest and most exposed people. He did so by visiting a home for people with disabilities, a visit the outlet describes as a "symbolically powerful rebuke" of President Javier Milei's austerity measures.
Which side made the stronger case?
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All sources: 40 articles from 17 outlets
Liberal (13)
- ABC News: Pope urges Argentines to follow model of saints during Mass in the 'land of saints'
- ABC News: WATCH: Pope Leo XIV in Argentina
- ABC News: Pope visits struggling Argentine home for people with disabilities to press message
- Al Jazeera English: Photos: Crowds greet Pope Leo in Argentina after 40-year wait
- Al Jazeera English: Pope meets with clergy abuse survivors in Argentina
- Al Jazeera English: President Milei welcomes Pope Leo during historic visit to Argentina
- Al Jazeera English: Pope Leo XIV delivers homily to thousands in Uruguay
- CBS News: Pope Leo on 3-country tour, weeks after lung cancer surgery
- La Opinión: “La economía debe estar al servicio de las personas y no las personas al servicio de la economía”: el mensaje del papa León XIV frente a Milei
- The Boston Globe: Pope Leo urges Argentina to protect the vulnerable from Milei’s austerity measures
- The Guardian: Pope Leo delivers stinging rebuke of Milei’s austerity measures during Argentina visit
- The Independent: Pope Leo sends democracy warning to Trump-ally Milei in first Argentina visit for decades
Center (21)
- BBC News: Millions fill Buenos Aires streets to welcome Pope Leo XIV
- BBC News: Pope delivers veiled rebuke of Milei's austerity measures
- Courthouse News: Pope Leo delivers politically charged message of hope to a struggling Argentina
- Deutsche Welle: Pope Leo vs. Javier Milei: How political is the pope?
- Deutsche Welle: Pope Leo draws 2.5 million in Buenos Aires, renews warning over Milei's austerity
- Deutsche Welle: Pope Leo urges Argentina's Milei to put people before the economy
- Deutsche Welle: Pope urges Argentina's Milei to put people before economy
- Euronews: Argentina: Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass before 650,000 in Córdoba
- Euronews: Pope Leo XIV draws huge crowds in Córdoba after record Buenos Aires mass
- Euronews: Peru: Giant statue of Pope Leo XIV unveiled ahead of papal visit
- Euronews: Argentina: Pope Leo XIV urges Milei's government to protect the most vulnerable
- Euronews: Argentina: Pope Leo XIV receives warm welcome in Claypole
- Euronews: Argentina: Pope Leo XIV welcomed by Javier Milei for historic visit
- Euronews: Pope Leo XIV ends his visit to Uruguay with a tribute to women before departing to Argentina
- The Seattle Times: Pope urges Argentines to follow model of saints during Mass in the ‘land of saints’
- The Seattle Times: Pope visits struggling Argentine home for people with disabilities to press economic message
- The Seattle Times: In Argentina, Pope Leo Tells President Milei Economy Must Serve the Needy
- UPI: Peru unveils 46-foot statue of Pope Leo XIV ahead of visit
- UPI: Pope Leo XIV draws Argentines seeking hope amid economic hardship
- UPI: More than 2 million attend Pope Leo XIV's first mass in Argentina
- UPI: Pope Leo urges Argentine political leaders to 'safeguard democracy'
Conservative (6)
- Breitbart News: Peru. Completes Its Tallest-Ever Statue Honoring Pope Leo XIV
- Breitbart News: Argentina: Over 2.5M People Gather with Pope Leo for First Papal Mass in 39 Years
- National Review: Pope Leo’s Victory Tour
- The Washington Times: Pope urges Argentines to follow model of saints during Mass in the 'land of saints'
- The Washington Times: Pope meets with survivors of clergy abuse in Argentina as it reckons with legacy and ongoing cases
- The Washington Times: Pope visits care home in Argentina for people with disabilities to press economic message
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