After the embrace yesterday with Pope Francis, on the occasion of the canonization of Maria Antonia of San Giuseppe de Paz y Figueroa, better known as 'Mama Antula', the Argentine president was received in audience in the Vatican this morning, accompanied by his entourage.
The private conversation between the two in the Library Hall of the Apostolic Palace lasted an hour: an unusually long time for papal audiences, also considering that the dialogue took place without the need for an interpreter.
At the end of the audience, after the presentation of the Argentine delegation, there was the usual exchange of gifts.
The Pontiff offered Milei a bronze medallion inspired by the Baldachin of St. Peter.
Then the volumes of papal documents and the Message for this year's World Day of Peace.
Among the gifts brought to the Pope by the Argentine president were the famous 'alfajores' (typical Argentine sweets filled with 'dulce de leche') and lemon biscuits.
Subsequently, Milei and his delegations met with the cardinal.
Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, accompanied by Msgr.
Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States
"During the cordial discussions in the Secretariat of State, satisfaction was expressed for the good relations between the Holy See and the Argentine Republic and the desire to further strengthen them. We then focused on the new Government's program to combat the economic crisis", he reports the note from the Holy See on
Pope Francis' audience with Milei.
As the conversation continued, the statement adds, "some issues of an international nature were touched upon, in particular ongoing conflicts and the commitment to peace between nations".
“Look, the Pope is a person who feels a lot of affection for everyone, in a way that you can't imagine maintaining any animosity towards anyone.”
This was said by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Argentine cardinal, Victor Fernandez, intercepted by journalists at the exit of the courtyard of San Damaso: Fernandez had the scheduled audience with the Pope right before the one that Francis reserved for the President Milei.
"The president - said Cardinal "Tucho" who glimpsed Milei when leaving his meeting with the Pontiff - approached the Pope with great affection".
When asked about a possible trip to Argentina by the Pontiff, he replied: "We don't know this because it depends on many things".
Then, pressed again by the question of whether the Pope is worried about the crisis in Argentina, his collaborator at the former Holy Office and compatriot replied: "On this point the Pope is always worried, and evidently it is a topic that is close to his heart. , that people do not suffer, so this issue has nothing to do with any ideological tendency, it is always concerned about those who suffer, it is inevitable."
On the détente with the Argentine president, he commented: "I believe that the Pope's idea of dialogue, of speaking, of comparing various points of view is always good, he also does it here within the Vatican".
On the insults hurled by Milei during the election campaign, who had even defined Bergoglio as the devil on earth, he observed: "Look, he doesn't get annoyed at all by these things, he understands that it's a campaign strategy, that it's part of a marketing strategy ".
Finally, when asked to comment on a recent statement from the Argentine episcopal conference which went so far as to say that "bread is not denied to anyone", he said: "We always keep our hearts on the side of those who suffer the most".
And from Buenos Aires, the undersecretary of the Argentine religion, Francisco Sánchez, said that the meeting between the Pope and Milei had "surprising aspects".
"During this hearing - explained the government official - there were many gestures from the president towards the Pope and from the latter towards the head
of state".
The meeting, he continued, "took place in a very cordial way, with a lot of sympathy, with a lot of friendship between the two, and with a duration, over an hour, which is not generally granted to international delegations received by the pontiff ".
In short, "everything developed much above the standards and this obviously left us extremely satisfied".
In his ten-year pontifical experience, Pope Francis has met three other Argentine heads of state: he dedicated almost an hour to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2013, 22 minutes to Mauricio Macri in 2016 and he granted 44 minutes to Alberto Fernández in 2020. The cordial atmosphere , and even a bit of joking between Milei and the Pope had already emerged yesterday in the first two-person meeting when the pontiff, smiling and surprised as he hugged his guest, said to him: "Have you cut your hair?", receiving
the response: "No. I didn't fix them!".
The meetings with Mattarella and Meloni
After the audience in the Vatican, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, received Milei at the Quirinale.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, was present at the meeting.
It was learned that Mattarella and Milei had an informal meeting of courtesy and
knowledge.
In the conversation, the ties between the two communities and the intention to intensify them were reiterated.
The relationship between the European Union and Mercosur was also discussed.
Subsequently, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni received the Argentine president at Palazzo Chigi.
Milei arrived at the government headquarters, welcomed by Meloni: between the two a handshake and some jokes accompanied by smiles, before the military picket line.
The meeting between Meloni and Milei lasted about an hour.
As the motorcade of his delegation passed, the Argentine president was acclaimed by a small group of his supporters who had gathered for a few hours on the pavement in front of Piazza Colonna, where in the meantime dozens of tourists and onlookers stopped to see him leave from the seat of
government.
Also this morning, arriving at the Vatican for his audience with the Pope, Milei had stopped his procession on Via della Conciliazione to greet a group of compatriots, with whom he took a few selfies.
Milei explains his ideas to 'Quarta Repubblica': 'I am a capitalist anarcho'
"Philosophically I am an anarcho-capitalist and therefore I feel a profound contempt for the State. I believe that the State is the enemy, I think that the State
is a criminal association."
Thus the Argentine president Milei in an interview that will be broadcast this evening on 'Quarta Repubblica', the talk show hosted by Nicola Porro on Retequattro, which provided some previews.
"In fact - he underlined - the State is a criminal association in which a group of politicians come together and decide to use the monopoly to steal the resources of the private sector".
"The state's method is to steal: every time you go to buy something in a place, the state robs you through taxes;
therefore, the state steals from you every day", continues the Argentine president.
"The State has the power to arrest people" while "politicians don't see consequences, they don't see their powers at stake. But in this I realized that the only way to enter the system is to 'dynamite' the system" , he claims.
"I originally thought that" communism "was a mental problem", because "pure socialism was defeated by economic theory" and "I first thought that it was a problem of nature, of a mental nature. But, then, I realized I realize that it was something much worse, that it was a disease of the soul. When socialism was applied well, they murdered more than 6 million human beings," Milei explained.
And, responding to the host's comment that "communists no longer exist", the Argentine leader said: "Oh, they don't exist? There are many socialists who want to achieve this in the long term. They are cowardly communists."
The Italian roots
"I am 75% Italian, absolutely Italian because my father's two parents were Italian" and "on my mother's side, her mother was of
Italian origin and her father of Yugoslavian origin. Consequently, I have 75% Italian blood Italian".
Milei himself explained it in the interview that will be broadcast this evening on 'Quarta Repubblica'.
"I have an incredible passion for Italian Opera, especially the part that refers to Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini and, for work reasons in the
private sector, every time I had to take a trip to Europe, I did it with Alitalia because I could stop in Rome."
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA