Franklin Graham, heir to the evangelical dynasty founded by Billy Graham, arrives in Buenos Aires as part of a continental tour of “Christian revival.” The central event, the Festival of Hope, will be held on November 7 and 8 at the José Amalfitani Stadium in Vélez Sarsfield, with free admission and capacity for 40,000 people. The program combines gospel music, testimonies and preaching, in a formula that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has replicated in 185 countries since 1949.
The high point of the visit will be the private audience that Graham will have with President Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada. The meeting, confirmed by official sources, takes place days after the victory of La Libertad Avanza in the legislative elections of October 26 (40.66% nationwide) and after a tweet from Graham himself: “Congratulations to Javier Milei for winning the midterms. I am looking forward to being in Buenos Aires next week.”
Graham, 73, heads the BGEA and the NGO Samaritan’s Purse, with an annual budget of more than $1 billion. In the United States he is a key figure of evangelical conservatism: he officiated the invocations at both of Donald Trump’s inaugurations and publicly supported the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. His positions on sexuality are explicit: he describes homosexuality as an “abomination” according to Leviticus 18:22 and promotes conversion therapies, while criticizing inclusive sexual education as “filthy garbage.”
The relationship with Milei is not improvised. The president, who wears a pectoral cross and quotes biblical passages in speeches, has courted the evangelical vote since the 2023 campaign. They represent 15% of the voter turnout and are growing in popular sectors. The Festival is endorsed by ACIERA and local pastors who celebrate the “spiritual unity” of the event.
On networks, analyst Antonella Marty warned: “The preacher who called homosexuality an ‘abomination’ […] He is going to do a massive evangelization in Vélez this week and Milei is going to receive him.” LGBTQ+ and human rights organizations are preparing peaceful protests in the vicinity of the stadium.
The meeting at Balcarce 50 and the event in Liniers mark a milestone: for the first time an Argentine president receives an evangelical leader of this magnitude in an official audience. For the ruling party, it is a gesture of gratitude to the electoral bloc that consolidated the victory of 26-O. For critics, a risk of importing the American cultural war in a country with equal marriage since 2010 and legal abortion since 2020.
