The surprising hug of President Javier Milei and Pope Francis: video

Pope Francisco and the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, greeted and hugged each other this Sunday after the canonization of the first Argentine saint, settling the electoral time in which the now president disqualified the pontiff, calling him “representative of evil on Earth.”

(You can read: The Pope canonizes 'Mama Antula', the first Argentine saint: this is how the ceremony was)

Once the Eucharist was over in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, the pontiff was taken in a wheelchair due to his knee problems to the place where the politician had followed the mass, to his right, in the front row before a kneeler. .

At that moment Milei shook his hand and gave him a hug.both of them talking between laughs for a few moments.

(Also: Milei Government departs from the bill against the abortion law: 'It is not part of the agenda')

Against intolerance

In St. Peter's Basilica, Francis presided over the canonization of the consecrated laywoman María Antonia de San José de Paz y Figueroa, known as “Mama Antula,” and in his homily he recalled the passage in which Jesus healed a leper, representation of the modern marginalized.

“Let us not think that they are just things of the past. How many suffering people we find on the sidewalks of our cities! And how many fears, prejudices and inconsistencies, even among those who believe and profess to be Christians, contribute to hurting them even more! Also in our time there is so much marginalization, there are barriers to break down, 'leproses' to heal,” he said.

(Keep reading: Omnibus Law: this is how Milei's first 'defeat' in Congress was created, what's next?)

In this sense, He called to “touch” those people who suffer and not to “reduce the world into – he said – the precincts of our 'being well'”.

“In these cases let us be careful, because the diagnosis is clear: it is 'leprosy of the soul'; a disease that makes us insensitive to love, to compassion, that destroys us through the 'gangrenes' of selfishness, prejudice , indifference and intolerance,” he warned.

A few minutes before, The pontiff had pronounced the formula in Latin with which he raised “Mama Antula” to the altars, who is recognized for her arduous social and religious work in the Argentine lands of the 18th century, before its Spanish independence..

But he also thanked him for his work in keeping alive the legacy of the Society of Jesus, to which the Pope himself belongs, after his expulsion from the Spanish Crown by order of King Charles III.

(In context: Milei begins a tour of Europe and the Middle East: he plans to meet with Netanyahu and the Pope)

Waited face to face

This meeting between the first Argentine and Latin American pontiff and the right-wing politician had generated great expectation due to the attacks of the second during the electoral campaign, when he called him “the representative of evil on Earth”.

However, his attacks have stopped after his arrival at the Casa Rosada last December and just yesterday he expressed on Radio Miter his desire to have “a very fruitful dialogue” with the pope, whom he now sees as “the most important Argentine in the history”.

Bergoglio, for his part, has always downplayed his words and in fact phoned him to congratulate him on his victory.

(You can read: Argentina's appeal court declares the labor reform decreed by Milei invalid)

This Sunday, in addition to the final hug, The two had planned a brief and formal meeting before the mass in the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica, about which no information has been released..

But the most anticipated moment will take place this Monday, starting at 9 am local time (3 am in Colombia), when Francis will receive him at the Apostolic Palace in an audience behind closed doors.

On the table, as the president has advanced, among other issues will be the possible trip of the pope to his native country, where he has not returned since his election in the 2013 conclave..

The mind in Buenos Aires

Milei has arrived in Rome from Israel accompanied by the Secretary General of the Presidency, his sister Karina Milei, and his Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Human Capital, as well as his cult secretary, among others.

But although in body he is in the Eternal City, visiting the Colosseum or Michelangelo's 'Moses' or exchanging the 'hot' rooms of the embassy for a hotel, his mind is on the other side of the ocean, in Argentina.

Last Tuesday, the president suffered a setback when the Chamber of Deputies did not approve the articles of his Law Bases and Starting Points for Freedom, a project with which he sought to deregulate the economy and reduce the weight of the State.

EFE