Pope Leo visits disability home amid funding freeze in Argentina

A federal judge ordered the freezing of 828 million pesos, or $536 million, in Argentine Health Ministry accounts just days before Pope Leo XIV arrived in the country. The funds were held to cover unpaid obligations to a residential center for people with disabilities, a move that underscores the financial strain on care institutions during the papal visit.

The visit takes place at the Don Orione Little Cottolengo in Claypole, a suburb south of Buenos Aires. The campus spans nearly 124 acres and functions as a self-contained community with internal streets, a church, clinics, and workshops. Approximately 415 residents with physical and intellectual disabilities live there, supported by 400 staff members. It is the largest of 14 similar centers in a network serving about 1,300 people across Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

The facility has faced supply shortages since late 2025. Deliveries of medicines, diapers, and other supplies through the federal Incluir Salud program stopped during that period. In April, Argentine bishops warned the national health minister that delayed payments threatened the care of roughly 1,200 residents. The government later authorized payment of the disputed amount following the court order.

Brother Jorge Silanes, the home’s director, stated that organizers will remove pews from the shrine to accommodate as many wheelchairs as possible. He told Agence France-Presse that the goal is to ensure people with disabilities are the protagonists of the visit. The Pope will meet residents and staff in a shrine where the heart of St. Luigi Orione, who laid the cornerstone in 1935, is preserved.

The visit occurs during a national dispute over disability policy. President Javier Milei’s administration argues that audits were necessary after irregularities were found in the disability pension system. An official report noted that noncontributory disability pensions grew from 79,000 in 2003 to more than 1.2 million in 2023. Judicial investigations have examined alleged favoritism and improper contracts, leading to the prosecution of Milei’s first head of the disability office for misusing funds.

Sandra Pettovello, Argentina’s minister of human capital, said the Pope would address pastoral concerns and the protection of the vulnerable without intervening in domestic politics. She described efforts to interpret the visit as a political rebuke as a misunderstanding of the Vatican’s role. Bishop Jorge Lugones of Lomas de Zamora called the choice of location a strong sign for Argentine society, noting that the Church does not forget human suffering.

Pope Leo’s previous trips followed a similar pattern. In Africa, he visited an orphanage and a psychiatric hospital. In Spain, he met people experiencing homelessness and migrants. In France, he visited a center assisting migrants and sick pilgrims at Lourdes. In his May encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, he wrote that society’s rejected stones, including the poor and the sick, must become its cornerstone.