After the warm greeting and subsequent meeting of President Javier Milei with Pope Francis, I was reminded of what I wrote in this same space in September of last year, in the middle of the electoral contest, when alerted about the risk of believing in messianic solutions as it seemed be proposing a candidate and that, beyond marketing and campaign promises, we Argentines were certainly not going to have it easy.
But I also stated that in my own Church there was confusion before a mass of reparation to the Pope for the disqualifications of his person uttered by Javier Milei.
That mass, he said, had not completely convinced many Catholics, who also felt upset by the verbal attacks on Francis.
At that moment I was trying to reflect on the disqualifications and the redress, trying to take some distance from the passion of the moment and, over the weekend, in the Liturgy of the Hours I read a text from the letter to the Romans that gave me a little of light: “Bless those who persecute you, bless, yes, do not curse” (Rom 12:14-15).
And he pointed out that in the mass we celebrate the surrender of Jesus to death for our salvation, even forgiving those who crucified him.
For this reason, I considered that making a mass of reparation to the Pope seemed like a lot to me.
I remembered that in the difficult moments of my work as spokesperson for the then archbishop of Buenos Aires, when controversies broke out, I could go out to argue about the situations and issues that were in the pillory, explain the positions of the Church that the then cardinal assumed. Jorge Bergoglio, but he didn't really like me coming out to defend him.
I think Francisco understood better than anyone that the Argentine Church was caught in a trap between disqualifications of his person and reparations.
As a shepherd of souls he did what he does best: he went out to meet others, rising above grievances.
In the unusual phone call to Milei 36 hours after the runoff to congratulate him on the victory, he dismantled the offended party's game with such a simple gesture.
How much we Argentines, those who make up the caste and the government itself, have to learn, that it is easier and more convenient to dialogue than to confront each other.
It can allow us to go from considering the other “satan” to calling him “holiness.”
That does not mean that they will agree on many things, as in fact happens, but closeness generating mutual trust builds a bond open to fertility.
And if an image is worth a thousand words, Milei's effusive hug to the Pope, full of emotion, at the end of the canonization of Mama Antula - in which the president wanted to be - left behind a stage and began a friendly bond.
Francisco also opened his heart and did not deprive himself of his sympathetic expressions.
“You cut your hair,” he teased.
“I got a little busy,” Milei replied.
They had never met in person, but the rapport was immediate.
Early on Monday morning, the president crossed the Santa Ana Gate with the delegation, stopped in the Patio de San Damaso and were received and escorted by the Swiss Guard up the imposing steps of the Apostolic Palace to the second floor.
Foreign Minister Diana Mondino;
the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos;
the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello;
the general secretary of the presidency, Karina Milei;
The designated Secretary of Worship, Francisco Sánchez, and Rabbi Axel Wahnish, appointed ambassador to Israel, stayed in a room next to the Apostolic Library - where the official audiences are held -, while Milei was received by the Pope.
The meeting was unusually long.
It took an hour when the protocol for this type of visits, always quite strict, provides for half an hour.
As they left, the empathy between them was evident.
In front of the procession, Francis gave him a bronze medal inspired by the baldachin of St. Peter's Basilica, a collection of his writings bound in red leather and gold details, including the encyclicals Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti. , and a copy of his message for this year's World Day of Peace, focused on Artificial Intelligence.
Milei gave him a large copy of the Argentine Postal stamp, commemorating the beatification, in 2016, of Mama Antula, a reproduction of a letter from the chancellor of the time designating Juan Bautista Alberdi as representative of Argentina in Europe and a ball of rag made by kids from Villa 31 de Retiro who participate in the Scholas Occurrentes programs.
Now, much will surely be considered about a possible visit of the Pope to his land based on good relations between the Pope and the president, which does not mean a communion of ideas, but the possibility of dialogue to find ways to overcome the difficult situation. situation of Argentina.