Buenos Aires City Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva placed retirees and their struggles for worthy pensions at the center of his Easter-related speeches over the weekend. On Saturday, he said that Argentina has a “social and moral debt” with retirees and called on society to not make them “expendable.” 

“A worthy retirement is part of [the idea] of not making them expendable, part of what it means for them to have rights,” García Cuerva said in an interview with Radio Mitre. He went on to criticize the fact that they can no longer buy medication after “contributing with their labor for so many years,” although he clarified that these problems have been going on for many years. 

The archbishop also called to avoid “verbal aggressions,” in what seemed a veiled jab at President Javier Milei and other members of his administration. “It’s crucial we begin to treat ourselves with respect and cordiality, trying to avoid disqualifications and verbal aggression, which also lead to violence.”

Retirees are among those hit the hardest by President Javier Milei’s austerity measures. A report by the Center of Argentine Political Economy (CEPA) found that in January 2025, the government spent 19% less on pensions than in January 2023. The Milei administration also cut a program that made some medications free.

Pensioners started to protest the cuts every Wednesday in front of Congress, in small demonstrations that often met with a heavy-handed police response.  Milei and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich have criticized protestors and defended police action taken at retiree marches demanding better pensions. Following a violent crackdown on March 12 that saw photojournalist Pablo Grillo end up in intensive care with a brain injury, the president called protestors “sons of b**** who go around with rags on their faces, burn cars, and threaten people.”

Bullrich, for her part, accused protestors of trying to “take over Congress,” alleging that some of the football fans present at the march belonged to barrabravas — organized, violent fan groups — and had come “prepared to kill.”

García Cuerva had already addressed the issue of pensioners and their struggles on Good Thursday. Following a religious ceremony at a church in Villa Soldati, the archbishop called for retirees to receive just pensions that allow them to “rest with dignity after a life of work.”