This November, Argentina will receive a historic visit. After almost four decades, a Pope will once again set foot in our country. Leo XIV will be among us from November 8th to 11th, visiting Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Luján.

There will be protocol, institutional meetings, security, speeches, large celebrations, and undoubtedly extensive media coverage. Leo XIV is also head of state of Vatican City, and his presence inevitably has a diplomatic and institutional dimension.

But to focus solely on that perspective would be to fail to grasp the true significance of his arrival.

Here comes Peter.

Leo XIV arrives in Argentina as a spiritual dignitary, as pastor of the universal Church, Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter. He comes on a pastoral visit. He comes to confirm us in the faith, renew our hope, and encourage us in our mission.

And it’s for everyone.

Not only for those who hold positions of responsibility within the Church. Not only for Catholics who participate in the Eucharist every Sunday. Not only for those who can physically approach any of the places I visit.

He comes to meet a people.

With those who believe and with those who doubt. With those who are close and with those who once drifted away. With young people seeking a future, with the elderly who hold onto the past, with families, workers, the poor, those who suffer, those who hope, and also with those who perhaps long ago stopped expecting anything from the Church.

And Peter will arrive this time in a very particular land: the land of Francis.

For more than a decade we lived through an unprecedented situation: one of our own was the Bishop of Rome. Jorge Mario Bergoglio left Buenos Aires for the 2013 conclave and never physically returned to his homeland as Pope.

Now another Pope will arrive.

The image will inevitably carry enormous symbolic weight. Leo XIV will walk through the land where Francis was born, arrive at a Church that knew him before he became Pope, and pray before the Virgin of Luján, so deeply rooted in the spirituality of the Argentine people.

But Leo XIV is not coming to fill the place that Francis left vacant in Argentina.

Nor does he come simply as “the successor of Francis.” He comes as the Successor of Peter.

And that difference can also help us understand the continuity of the Church.

Francisco was Francisco. León is León.

Each Pope has his own history, sensibility, personality, language, and way of exercising his ministry. To expect Leo XIV to reproduce the gestures, words, or even style of Francis would be to misunderstand the richness of that continuity.

He does not need to resemble Francis to continue Peter’s mission.

Perhaps that is why, while we wonder what Leo XIV will say when he arrives in Argentina, it would be wise to start by observing what he has already been showing.

Because we are facing a Pope of concrete gestures.

A Pope who insists that faith cannot remain confined to words, but must touch the reality of humankind. Who speaks of human dignity in the face of the enormous challenges of our time. Who calls for peace in a world riddled with wars and divisions. Who invites us to rediscover silence amidst the noise and who asks us to transform personal self-denial into closeness to the elderly, the sick, and the poor.

They are simple gestures, but profoundly pastoral.

And perhaps that is also a key to understanding his visit to our country.

When Leo XIV arrives in Argentina, we will not only have to listen to what he says.

We’ll have to see where it’s going.

Who he meets.

Who is listening?

Where he decides to stop.

What reality does it choose to put before our eyes?

Whom does he hug?

Because a Pope also preaches while walking.

In an Argentina marked by strong political and social divisions, we will also have another challenge: to avoid the temptation to appropriate Leo XIV.

It will be inevitable that every word will be analyzed. That political signals will be sought in their speeches. That a photograph will be interpreted one way and, a few hours later, exactly the opposite.

But Leo XIV is not coming for the Government nor for the opposition.

It is not here to legitimize one political space nor to become the banner of another.

Nor is it intended for a particular sensibilities within the Church itself.

It’s for everyone.

The organization has already begun. Logistics, security, transportation, meetings, and celebrations will all be necessary.

But the Argentine Church has another preparation ahead of it: that of the heart.

Because we are not just organizing the arrival of a world personality.

We are preparing to receive a pastor.

Waiting for a meeting.

In November, the Successor of Peter is coming to Argentina. And we must have our ears open to hear his words, but also our eyes.

Because Leo XIV seems to remind us that, often, gestures don’t accompany the message. Gestures are the message.