"Will you give me your blessing, Father?" On the outskirts of the Our Lady of Caacupe parish in Villa 21-24, a densely populated working-class neighborhood in southern Buenos Aires, Father Lorenzo "Toto" de Vedia is frequently approached by locals. He has lived in the neighborhood for 26 years, like the roughly eighty curas villeros ("shantytown priests") across Argentina who, since the late 1960s, have vowed to reside as close as possible to the daily lives of their parishioners.

In this neighborhood, poverty is a constant. "There is a lot of drug use and people who have jobs but whose wages are not enough," the priest said. He described this situation as the result "of a state that has abandoned its responsibilities, which are first and foremost supporting the most vulnerable," he added, referring to the government of the ultraliberal Javier Milei, who has been in power since December 2023.

Over the months, dialogue between the curas villeros and the authorities has dried up. In the face of a government that has held firm to fiscal discipline, voices within the Catholic Church have multiplied to warn about the consequences of severe budget cuts. Ahead of the high-stakes partial legislative elections on October 26 for the president's party, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), which seeks to expand its foothold in a Parliament where it is a minority, de Vedia did not hesitate to share his views from the pulpit. "I try to touch the hearts of those who vote; I speak about the importance of policies that serve those in need," he explained, without naming Milei. The priest had also recently attended a weekly demonstration defending retirees.

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