By Isolde Doubell
18 September 2025
For sports lovers, Argentina, with its white and light-blue colours, immediately conjures up images of football legends like Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona. But Argentina is a multifaceted country and a hotspot nation in South America because of its controversial president and his plans to haul the country out of a massive economic slump.
Argentina is the second-largest country in South America, after Brazil, and is defined by both the Andes in the west, crossing ten provinces and forming the border with Chile, as well as the vast, fertile Pampas plains in the central and eastern parts, which form the agricultural heartland. The Spanish coloniser Pedro de Mendoza established the first settlement of Buenos Aires, now the country’s capital, in 1536, naming it Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Aire (“Our Lady St Mary of the Good Air”). The people of Buenos Aires are called “porteños” because they settled near the port, which has been the main source of income for the city since 1879. That year, the city port was opened to receive large cargo ships from all over the world. This port also received millions of European immigrants between 1880 and 1950. Today, the capital city itself is home to more than 3 million people, with more than 17.5 million in the greater Buenos Aires area. Spanish is the country’s national language; it is spoken in several accents and has absorbed many words from other languages, especially Italian.
According to the Joshua Project, 93% of the 45 million Argentinians are Christian, with 83% being Catholic. Less than 20% of Catholics attend church regularly, but the faith’s influence is strongly reflected in government and society. Pope Francis, who passed away earlier this year, was not just the first pope from Argentina, but also the first from the Southern Hemisphere. Not since Syrian-born Gregory III died in 741 had there been a non-European Bishop of Rome. The country’s evangelical community represents 15% of the population, according to the latest CONICET survey conducted in 2019, an increase of 9% points over 2008. The same survey showed that evangelicals make up 20% of Argentinians between 18 and 29 years old and 26% of those with only a high-school education. In 2024, 31 October was declared Reformation Day—the National Day of Evangelical and Protestant Churches. It coincided with the 507th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses, which sparked the Protestant Reformation. In an article in Christianity Today, Amilcar Matosian, who is part of the Buenos Aires Pastoral Council, said, “[The National Day] is a recognition of the tireless work of pastors, leaders, and Christians who anonymously visit schools, hospitals, prisons, and police stations, and work for the peace of the nation.” Argentine Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, who is Catholic, added that the new law is the result of ten years of tireless outreach to government officials, pastors, and the community. It opens up greater opportunities for evangelisation at the national level. “It shows us that it is not necessary to hold a political office to have a law approved. It is enough to be obedient to the Lord’s calling for each one, and to present petitions to the authorities as a citizen. We have all been called to proclaim the gospel, and that is the main objective of this law.” One thing the evangelical community will strive to change is for the government to legally recognise non-Catholic churches outside the city of Buenos Aires as churches, something that is not the case now.
President Javier Milei, the Economy and the Church
In November 2023, Argentina was faced with the highest inflation rate in the world: 211.4%, and 19.5 million people were living below the poverty line. The country was heading into the elections with two starkly different candidates: Sergio Massa, a Peronist from the ruling coalition that had dominated Argentine politics for decades, and Javier Milei, a 53-year-old libertarian economist who gained fame through TV appearances denouncing socialism and preaching free-market economics. Against all expectations, Milei won the election, facing the almost impossible challenge of stabilising the nation’s economy. Since then, Milei has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees, and led a major deregulation drive. He has often been seen revving a chainsaw during public appearances, driving the image home that cuts are an essential part of his campaign for a healthier economy.
Milei has managed to turn around some of the problems. The economy has largely stabilised. The annual inflation rate is around 33%. Currency controls have come down, and the country had its first budget surplus in 14 years. Milei’s supporters and many in the market have hailed it as an “economic miracle.” But all of this came at a cost, especially for the poorer people of Argentina. Public expenditure cuts led to the dismissal of at least 30,000 public officials, and reductions in subsidies for essential services such as transport and food caused prices to increase. For ordinary people, their hard-earned money can buy less and less. Poverty makes people vulnerable to false teachings, especially the prosperity gospel, says Josue Fernandez from United World Mission in a Christianity Today podcast. “In the case of the evangelical church, the approach is more holistic. They preach about how God can help you get out of your situation, but also the evangelical church is highly involved in social efforts to relieve people—feeding children, feeding the poor, providing job opportunities, trying to help people start businesses, helping women who are abused, things like that.”
Milei vetoed the increase of pensions and disability benefits, but for the first time in more than 20 years, the national Congress overturned the president’s veto. The president’s momentum has also been affected by two scandals—a cryptocurrency debacle that sparked dozens of criminal complaints alleging fraud and an alleged corruption scheme implicating Karina Milei, his sister and General Secretary of the Presidency, in bribery.
Although he grew up Catholic, he has huge respect and admiration for Israel and says he is studying the Torah. He has spoken of converting to Judaism once his presidency is over. Although he is not a conservative in the traditional sense, he is pro-life from conception to death, does not support debates on gender issues, and has been severely criticised for not supporting environmental initiatives.
Israel
Argentina and Israel have some significant connections. Several kibbutzim near the Gaza border have sizable Argentinean populations, going back half a century to a wave of immigration to Israel by Jews keen to escape the Latin American country’s economic instability. More than twenty of the hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023 hold Argentinean passports. Among them were Luis Harr and Fernando Simon Marman, who were rescued by the IDF, and the Bibas family, whose mother and two sons were killed by Hamas.
In May 2024, Milei’s government broke with Argentina’s previous position on Palestine, voting against recognition of the Palestinian state at the United Nations. The vote was in line with the country’s pro-Israel shift in its foreign policy.
In January 2025, Javier Milei was awarded the Genesis Prize, dubbed the “Jewish Nobel,” and, for the first time in its ten-year history, the prize went to a non-Jew and to a head of state.
Challenges for the Church
Josue Fernandez from United World Mission said in a podcast for Christianity Today that pastors in Argentina have to learn how to reach all areas of society. “Most of their universities are controlled by humanistic thinking. If you want to reach the people that influence the country, the highly educated are looking for something more elaborate, more sophisticated, from an intellectual perspective. The evangelical church faces that challenge because historically our message has been appealing to the poor in society.”
The evangelical church in Argentina is therefore evolving its strategies to preach the timeless message of the Gospel to all spheres of society. In the process, it is expanding its influence, growing God’s Kingdom within the country, in the region of South America, and to the ends of the earth.
Please join us in prayer:
- That the evangelical church will remain steadfast, centred on the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and that the poor will not be taken captive by false prosperity teachings.
- That the spread of the gospel will reach all people groups of Argentina—that those who are moving away from Catholicism, as well as those who are drawn to atheism, will encounter Jesus—El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient One.
- That the government will have wisdom in how to manage the economy so that the people of Argentina will be able to make a living.
- That President Milei’s fascination with Israel will stir his heart towards Jesus, the King of the Jews, and the Gentiles.
Sources:
https://rlo.acton.org/archives/126528-moses-and-javier-milei.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/08/argentina-election-javier-milei
