Pope Leo has left Uruguay and is now flying to Argentina, the second stage of his apostolic journey to Latin America.
The Pontiff was welcomed at the Fuerza Aerea Uruguaya military air base by the President of the Republic, Yamandù Orsi for the farewell ceremony. Then takeoff from Montevideo-Carrasco Airport.
Arrival in Buenos Aires is expected after about an hour’s flight, at 4.30pm local time, 8.30pm in Rome. A face-to-face meeting between Leone and president Javier Milei is expected.
The stop in Argentina was defined by the Pope as a tribute to his predecessor Francis. Bergoglio never went to his native country after the election to the Petrine throne and Milei, during the 2023 presidential elections, had not spared harsh criticism of the Argentine Pope, calling him “the representative of the evil one on Earth”.
However, a rapprochement with Bergoglio occurred on 12 February 2024 in the historic hearing in the Vatican, in which President Milei renewed the invitation to the Pope to visit Argentina. The audience took place the day after the canonization mass of Santa Mama Antula (the first Argentine saint), during which the two had already greeted each other with a hug.