The designated archbishop of Buenos Aires and current bishop of Río Gallegos, Monsignor Jorge García Cuerva, said Tuesday that he has "another position", rejecting any political identification with Kirchnerism, as transpired in some sectors after the decision of his appointment by Pope Francis. "In this obsession we have with the crack they have wanted to push me to that side," he launched in reference to those questions.
Even, García Cuerva highlighted his links with PRO referents, such as the former Buenos Aires governor María Eugenia Vidal and Carolina Stanley, former Minister of Social Development during the administration of Mauricio Macri, relationships that, as he said, he built in the times when he was parish priest of the village La Cava, in the northern area of the Buenos Aires suburbs.
The clarifications of the designated replacement of Mario Poli as archbishop of the Buenos Aires diocese took place in the framework of an interview he granted to LU12 of the city of Río Gallegos after his photos with the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa and his wife, Malena Galmarini, making the "V" with which the Justicialists identify, spread on social networks.
Malena Massa welcoming the appointment of Jorge García Cuerva as bishop of Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego
To the controversy over these images was also added the dissemination of a homily he gave in 2016 – while still a priest – in one during a mass for an anniversary of the death of General Juan Domingo Perón, in which he claimed Peronist militancy.
Because of "the crack"
On the alleged "links with Kirchnerism... politically I assure you that my position is different, but beyond that the bond I had has been very cordial and very much in agreement fundamentally in the province of Santa Cruz, "said García Cuerva, although he avoided any reference regarding the photos with Massa.
In that line, he recalled some of his last public statements or his words in the last Tedeum in the province on May 25 critical of the management of the national government, especially in economic, social and health policy matters. "They have heard and have been able to see that I am very critical of some situations such as inflation, which I say is the tax of the poor," he emphasized.
He stressed that his ties with the political leadership are framed in his conviction that the State has to have an intelligent presence in the neighborhoods and that, in many cases, "it is the priest, the bishop, an interlocutor so that the State arrives and improves the quality of life of the people." And he added: "my link has been with them, with María Eugenia Vidal as governor of the province of Buenos Aires, with Carolina Stanley as Minister of Development. Again, I think it's putting up a little bit of a hasty sign."
García Cuerva was appointed as the new archbishop of Buenos Aires.
He then traced his own reasoning regarding the criticism he received: "In this obsession we have with the crack, that one is on one side or the other, they have wanted to push me to that side," he accused.
Rejection of internal criticism
On the other hand, García Cuerva was also consulted about the accusations made on social networks by the priest Rodrigo Enrique Vázquez -expelled from the seminary of San Isidro, ordained a priest in the military bishopric, and also expelled from there and, finally, established in the Buenos Aires diocese of San Nicolás-, who attributed him to be a terrorist and have links with the LGTB collective.
After pointing out that he has not seen that priest for 32 years and that "it is a very big time to dare to judge another and put up posters," he denied embracing revolutionary violence, pointing out that "my father is a soldier in the Air Force, I have an uncle who died in the Malvinas and it seems to me that it is at least a hasty thing to express oneself in that way."
As for his alleged approach to the LGTB collective, the bishop explained that he worked with "a group of trans people in the year '98 trying to help them get out of prostitution and be able to insert themselves into the labor market with hairdressers and bleach," and assured that he feels "happy about that experience." "It was to accompany people who if they suffer today, imagine 20 years ago what marginalization and discrimination was. Some of them are still great friends," she said.
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