Pope and Argentine President Appear to Find Some Common Ground

President Javier Milei of Argentina, who earlier than taking workplace ridiculed Pope Francis as an “imbecile” and accused him of violating the Ten Commandments, met with the pontiff on Monday for an hourlong dialog that the Vatican described as “cordial.”

The Vatican stated in a press release that the 2 leaders had spoken at a non-public assembly about their shared will to additional strengthen relations and had addressed the Milei authorities’s program to counter the financial disaster in Argentina, the place the annual inflation price is at 211 p.c.

On social media, Mr. Milei’s workplace posted {a photograph} of the pope with the president and the president’s sister, Karina Milei, one in all his closest advisers.

The discussions, which got here a day after Mr. Milei attended a Mass for the canonization of Argentina’s first feminine saint, additionally addressed worldwide points, “particularly ongoing conflicts and the dedication to peace amongst nations,” the Vatican stated.

The great will was not a given. Each males had been born in Buenos Aires, and although the pope is a nationwide hero to many in Argentina, the place a majority of individuals determine as Roman Catholic, Mr. Milei, who says he’s an “anarcho-capitalist” and who ran below the banner of a far-right libertarian occasion, has repeatedly denigrated Francis.

Within the years previous his election in November, Mr. Milei usually attacked the pope, who in his writings and speeches has repeatedly spoken out in opposition to free market economies for producing revenue inequalities that have an effect on probably the most weak.

In 2020, Mr. Milei referred to as Francis “the consultant of the Evil One on Earth” due to the pope’s protection of “social justice.” Two years later, Mr. Milei stated that Francis “all the time stands on the aspect of evil” as a result of the pope supported taxation.

Francis gave the impression to be unperturbed, disregarding the criticism as electoral hyperbole. Mr. Milei’s feedback had been made “in jest,” the pope stated in an interview in December with a Mexican broadcaster.

“You need to distinguish lots between what a politician says within the election marketing campaign and what he truly does afterward,” Francis added, “as a result of then comes the second of concreteness, of choices.”

Francis has usually downplayed criticism, even probably the most vitriolic — a part of a method of protecting political doorways open, even with leaders who maintain views that he rejects.

It has not all the time labored in his favor. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the pope was initially criticized for his stance on Moscow; he finally referred to as out the aggressor solely after months had handed.

Mr. Milei’s tone towards the pope softened after he was elected president late final 12 months, when Francis referred to as him after his victory. Mr. Milei’s workplace stated in a press release on the time that the pope had contacted Mr. Milei to “congratulate him and to precise his needs for the unity and progress for our nation.”

On Sunday, Mr. Milei attended a Mass for the canonization of María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, generally known as Mama Antula, an 18th-century girl who gave up her wealth to take care of the poor. She additionally stored alive the work of the Jesuits, the order that Francis belongs to, after it was expelled from Argentina.

Francis praised her on Sunday as a “mannequin of apostolic fervor and audacity for us,” and he urged his listeners to beat prejudice and concern and be near the poor. “What number of struggling women and men can we meet on the sidewalk of our cities,” he stated

After the ceremony, Francis was taken in a wheelchair to greet the Argentine president. The 2 males exchanged just a few phrases earlier than Mr. Milei bent over and gave Francis a hug.

It had been extensively speculated by Vatican consultants that the 2 leaders would converse of a potential papal journey to Argentina throughout their assembly, however the Vatican didn’t verify any talks on that subject. Francis has made 44 journeys exterior Italy since turning into pope practically 11 years in the past, however he has by no means returned house. In January, Mr. Milei issued a proper invitation.

In an interview on Friday with Vatican Information, an official Vatican outlet, Archbishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva of Buenos Aires stated that the Argentine folks had been ready for Pope Francis “and wish to meet with their pastor.”

The archbishop additionally spoke in regards to the present financial state of affairs in Argentina. Within the two months since Mr. Milei took workplace, inflation has soared and the worth of the nationwide foreign money has plummeted, prompting protests and strikes. Regardless of the financial chaos, Mr. Milei’s approval score has remained excessive.

“On the one hand, we can’t stay detached as a result of for us, the poverty indexes and the indigence indexes are telling us about concrete faces, about concrete brothers and sisters who’re having a really unhealthy time,” the archbishop stated.

“They aren’t numbers however concrete faces, and, as I all the time say, the political, enterprise and spiritual leaders, all of us have just a little duty in having reached this case,” he added.

Mr. Milei arrived in Italy from Israel, the place he had promised to maneuver his nation’s embassy to Jerusalem, from Tel Aviv. The choice was praised by the Israeli authorities and criticized by Hamas, the armed Palestinian group with which Israel is at battle within the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Milei was scheduled to fulfill with Italy’s hard-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, on Monday afternoon.