President Javier Milei met this Monday at the Vatican with Pope Francis in a private meeting that lasted more than an hour.
During the traditional exchange of gifts, the Argentine president presented the Supreme Pontiff
with a folder with a copy of the handwritten letter
from Chancellor José María Gutiérrez to Juan Bautista Alberdi accrediting him as representative in Europe, dated May 1854.
He also gave her a painting with the commemorative postcard of the brand new Saint Mama Antula that the Argentine Postal Service distributed in August 2017 on the occasion of her beatification and
alfajores of dulce de leche and lemon cookies.
Francis, meanwhile, gave him
a bronze medal inspired by the baldachin of Saint Peter
, a collection of his writings bound in red leather and gold details, including the encyclicals Laudato si' and Fratelli Tutti, and a copy of the message to this year's World Day of Peace, focused on Artificial Intelligence.
The president was with Francisco in the Library on the second floor of the Apostolic Palace from 9 a.m. local time (5 a.m. in Argentina) until 10 a.m., the sources added.
Pope Francis received Milei in a private audience.
Photo: Vatican Media.
After the private meeting,
the Pope greeted the delegation
made up of the Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei;
Foreign Minister Diana Mondino;
the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos;
the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello;
the announced Secretary of Worship, Francisco Sánchez;
and the rabbi appointed ambassador to Israel, Axel Wahnish.
One of the topics on the agenda, as the president had announced, was
the invitation to Jorge Mario Bergoglio to visit Argentina
for the first time since he was enthroned in March 2013, a possibility that the Pope considers "a hypothesis" for the second semester of the year.
This Monday was
the first private meeting between Milei and the Pope
, after on Sunday they had greeted each other briefly at the beginning and at the end of the mass for the canonization of Mama Antula, in which the president participated.
After the meeting with the Pope, the President holds a meeting with the Vatican Secretary of State, the Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The president arrived at the Patio San Damaso of the Vatican at 8:57 local time, where he was received by the head of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, Leonardo Sapienza, while an Argentine flag waved in front of the building and the Swiss guards formed the traditional picket line. honorary.
Milei arrived at the Vatican about 10 minutes late as he got out of the car he was traveling in to take photos with Argentine pilgrims who were waiting for him in front of the Argentine embassy on the Roman Via della Conciliazione.