Pope Francis and the Argentine president, Javier Milei, held their first meeting in the Vatican yesterday. It was the first time that the two Argentines saw each other face to face after the surprising triumph of the far-right leader, who before arriving at the Casa Rosada had dedicated all kinds of insults to the Pontiff.
Milei had called his compatriot "moron", "representative of evil on Earth" or "leftist son of a bitch who walks around proclaiming communism". Even in September, in an interview with the controversial former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, he said that the Pope was violating the ten commandments to defend social justice and "is on the side of bloody dictatorships". But after winning the election in November, Milei already changed his tune and put the disqualifications on hold when he received a call from the Jesuit Pope. Then he no longer called him "son of a bitch", but "His Holiness". "His Holiness told me: 'Courage and wisdom'. I told him that the first thing I master and the second... I'm working on it", he explained then.
Francesc and Milei greeted each other briefly at the end of the canonization mass of Argentina's first saint, María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, popularly known as Mama Antula, in St. Peter's Basilica. Milei headed the Argentine delegation and took the opportunity to break the ice with the Pope.
"You've cut your hair!" commented Jorge Mario Bergoglio. "I've tidied them up!" replied the Argentine president, laughing and taking his hands. Then he bent down to hug the Pope, who has been using a wheelchair for some time to get around because of his knee problems. Francis thanked him for coming, greeted the rest of the companions – including his sister and general secretary, Karina Milei – and, as he does at all meetings, asked them to pray for him.
The two Argentines will see each other again this morning at the Apostolic Palace, where they will hold their first official audience, in which they will have time to talk calmly. The Argentine will surely renew the invitation to visit his country, a trip that Francesc intends to make in the second half of the year if his health allows it. It would be the first time that the Pope returns to his country since he was elected, now more than ten years ago.
Milei, who is in Rome after his visit to Israel, will later meet with the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and also with the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who during an intervention on television emphasized his "fascinating personality". The leader of Brothers of Italy also boasted that she was the first European leader with whom Milei had spoken after winning the elections, a telephone conversation that took place last November 20 to congratulate him on his victory electoral
"Argentina is a nation to which we are united by deep historical and cultural ties and where the largest community of Italians abroad lives. Rome and Buenos Aires share common values that define our foreign policy action in the current international context", assured the head of the Italian Government at the time.
