{"text":[[{"start":7.94,"text":"Pope Leo XIV and Argentina’s President Javier Milei expounded on very different visions of society on Sunday, in what is likely to be the most fraught meeting of the Chicago-born pontiff’s tour of South America."}],[{"start":20.94,"text":"The Pope, who has made the defence of workers and the poor a core theme of his papacy, offered what many in Argentina interpreted as veiled criticism of the libertarian’s sweeping austerity and deregulation reforms."}],[{"start":32.46,"text":"“I am thinking in particular of families bearing the burden of uncertainty . . . elderly people who have spent years helping to build society and those who, despite having jobs, struggle to meet their household’s needs,” the pontiff told a room of religious and political leaders, including Milei, in Buenos Aires."}],[{"start":51.22,"text":"“The economy must serve people, not people serve the economy,” he added, raising cheers and applause from opposition figures present."}],[{"start":59.1,"text":"Milei sat mostly stony-faced but applauded regularly during Pope Leo’s speech on Sunday, which also included warnings about AI — a technology the president has enthusiastically embraced, pledging to block all regulation and make Argentina the first country to allow “non-human corporations”."}],[{"start":76.1,"text":"Milei later praised Leo’s speech in a local television interview as “a superlative lecture” that offered “very valuable” lessons. His troop of libertarian influencers on social media interpreted Leo’s celebration of “the right to live from one’s own work” as a free-market message."}],[{"start":92.14,"text":"In a speech before the Pope’s address, Milei defended his economic shock therapy as an effort to protect “future generations”, after lavish spending by previous Argentine governments triggered a series of inflationary spirals and debt defaults."}],[{"start":105.94,"text":"“When making decisions, we do not focus on the needs of a single sector at a particular moment, but rather on the benefit of society as a whole, both in the present and in the future,” Milei said."}],[{"start":117.3,"text":"Pope Leo’s visit comes at a sensitive time for the president, a self-described anarcho-capitalist who has called social justice “an aberration” and taxes “theft”."}],[{"start":125.42,"text":"A year out from his bid at re-election, voters’ relief at Milei’s success in taming the severe inflation crisis he inherited has given way to frustration at a stalling economy and the uneven impact of his policies."}],[{"start":138.28,"text":"Private economists believe Argentina entered a technical recession in the third quarter of 2026. Milei’s approval rating has fallen to 38.5 per cent, according to pollster AtlasIntel."}],[{"start":150,"text":"The Pope is scheduled to visit a centre for disabled people on Monday, which local church leaders have singled out as a major victim of the steep budget cuts through which Milei has delivered one of the world’s few fiscal surpluses."}],[{"start":162.4,"text":"Pope Leo will spend three days in Argentina as part of a 12-day tour that also includes Uruguay and Peru, where the pontiff lived and worked for two decades."}],[{"start":171.42,"text":"This week’s visit is the first by a pope to Argentina in nearly 40 years. Pope Leo’s predecessor, the Argentine Pope Francis, never returned to his homeland during his 12-year papacy."}],[{"start":182.98,"text":"Milei shocked Argentines during his 2023 campaign by repeatedly insulting Pope Francis, a former Buenos Aires archbishop who had ties to figures in Argentina’s left-leaning opposition. He called him “a filthy leftist” and “evil’s representative on Earth”, though he mended fences once in office and went on to meet him at the Vatican."}],[{"start":202.18,"text":"In his speech on Sunday, Milei remembered Pope Francis as “the most important Argentine in history”."}],[{"start":207.62,"text":"Peter Thiel, the US tech billionaire who has spoken about proponents of tech regulation as “the antichrist”, temporarily moved his family to Buenos Aires earlier this year and met Milei and his senior officials."}],[{"start":220.16,"text":"“Technological development requires an ethical awareness commensurate with its power,” Pope Leo told the crowd in Argentina."}],[{"start":230.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794199804_7205.mp3"}