Efe Vatican City

Vatican City

Updated Sunday, February 11, 2024-10:07

Pope

Francis

and the president of Argentina,

Javier Milei

, greeted and hugged each other this Sunday after the canonization of the first Argentine saint, ending the electoral period in which the now president disqualified the pontiff, calling him "the representative of evil on Earth." ".

Once the Eucharist was over in

St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican

, the pontiff was taken in a wheelchair due to his knee problems to the place where the politician had followed the mass, to his right, in the front row before a kneeler. .

At that moment Milei shook his hand and gave him a hug, both of them talking between laughs for a few moments.

In St. Peter's Basilica, Francis presided over the canonization of the consecrated laywoman

María Antonia de San José de Paz y Figueroa

, known as 'Mama Antula', and in his homily he recalled the passage in which Jesus healed a leper, a representation of the modern outcasts.

"Let us not think that they are just things of the past. How many suffering people we find on the sidewalks of our cities! And how many fears, prejudices and inconsistencies, even among those who believe and profess to be Christians, contribute to hurting them even more! Also in our time there is so much marginalization, there are barriers to break down, 'leproses' to heal," he said.

In this sense, he called to "touch" those people who suffer and not "reduce the world into - he said - the precincts of our 'being well'."

"In these cases let us be careful, because the diagnosis is clear: it is 'leprosy of the soul'; a disease that makes us insensitive to love, to compassion, that destroys us through the 'gangrenes' of selfishness, prejudice , indifference and intolerance," he warned.

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Idyll between Milei and the Pope

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Idyll between Milei and the Pope

A few minutes before, the pontiff had pronounced the formula in Latin with which he raised 'Mama Antula' to the altars, who is recognized for her arduous social and religious work in the Argentine lands of the 18th century, before its Spanish independence. .

But he also thanked him for his work in keeping alive the legacy of the

Society of Jesus

, to which the Pope himself belongs, after his expulsion from the Spanish Crown by order of King Charles III.

Waited for the face to face

This meeting between the first Argentine and Latin American pontiff and the far-right politician had generated great expectation due to the latter's attacks during the electoral campaign, when he called him the

"representative of evil on Earth

. "

However, his attacks have stopped after his arrival at the Casa Rosada last December and just yesterday he expressed on Radio Miter his desire to have "a very fruitful dialogue" with the pope, whom he now sees as "the most important Argentine in the history".

Bergoglio, for his part, has always downplayed his words and in fact telephoned him to congratulate him on his victory.

Today, in addition to the final hug, the two had planned a brief and formal meeting before the mass in the sacristy of

St. Peter's Basilica

, about which no information has been released.

But the most anticipated moment will take place this Monday, starting at 9:00 local time (8:00 GMT), when Francisco will receive him at the

Apostolic Palace

in an audience behind closed doors.

On the table, as the president has advanced, will be among other issues the possible trip of the pope to his native country, where he has not returned since his election in the 2013 conclave.

Milei has arrived in Rome from Israel accompanied by the Secretary General of the Presidency, his sister

Karina Milei

, and his Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Human Capital, as well as his cult secretary, among others.

But although in body he is in the Eternal City, visiting the Colosseum or Michelangelo's 'Moses' or exchanging the 'hot' rooms of the embassy for a hotel, his mind is on the other side of the ocean, in Argentina.

Last Tuesday, the president suffered a setback when the Chamber of Deputies did not approve the articles of his Law Bases and Starting Points for Freedom, a project with which he sought to deregulate the economy and reduce the weight of the State.