Argentina says it detained a person who threatened Pope Leo XIV

Detention after threats

Argentina's intelligence agency SIDE said on Saturday evening, 7 November, that it had detained a person who made death threats against Pope Leo XIV. The agency passed its information to the counter-terrorism unit of the federal police, and the detention took place less than 24 hours after SIDE received word of the threats. In its statement, SIDE put it this way:

“A person who made death threats against His Holiness Pope Leo XIV in the context of his visit to the country has been detained.”

The statement did not reveal the identity of the person or the place of detention. It also gave no details about the alleged threats or their nature.

The papal visit

Leo XIV has been in Uruguay since Friday, 6 November, and is due to arrive in Argentina on Sunday afternoon, 8 November, local time. The trip is the first papal visit to Argentina since John Paul II travelled there in 1987. In Argentina the pope will visit Buenos Aires, Córdoba in the centre of the country, and Luján, a town near the capital. After the Argentine leg, he travels to Peru on Wednesday, 11 November.

Security response

SIDE stressed how quickly its services acted after receiving the signal about a possible threat to the head of the Catholic Church. The agency's statement confirmed the detention and highlighted the effectiveness of the security services, but offered nothing further. Neither the identity of the person nor the nature of the alleged threats has been made public in the material available.