Sunday, February 12 Javier Milei and Jorge Bergoglio they will see each other’s faces. Not only will it be the first time they meet and interact, but it will also be the President’s debut in the Vatican. But in the air they float signs of bad omen, in the run-up to the meeting. Which are?
Some reader’s head might go fast with the torrent of insults that Milei directed at him for years. She called Francisco a communist and for supporting “bloody regimes,” among other grievances, such as being “the representative of the Evil One on earth”. However, the tension does not stop there. Francisco is aware of the global role he occupies, and those who know him say that the call he made to Milei comes from there. Curiously, that conversation was managed Ramiro Marrawho is treated by the same ophthalmologist that the fan of San Lorenzo. But the conversation did not bury all the ghosts.
First piece of information that caught attention in the Vatican. Milei travels first to Israel and then to see the Pontiff. Protocol indicates that this is a mistake: the Popes are the first to visit on a presidential tour, not the second destination. But it is not the only data that raised alarms. There is also the fact that in the Vatican sthere is still no appointed ambassador. Fernarda Silva, who held that position during the Government of Alberto Fernández, has already left her position and packed her bags, and in the coming days she will return to Argentina. The place is vacant.
With the Secretariat of Worship, the area of the State that mediates between the Government and the different religions – and also with the Pope – something similar happens. Although it still does not have someone officially named, the ruling party assured that that place would go to Francisco Sanchez. This is a former PRO deputy who responds to Patricia Bullrich – and in the Foreign Ministry they say that the appointment is being stopped because Mondino resists this advance -, who has had hurtful statements towards the Pope, as well as towards Judaism and Islam. Curious decision to put in that place the man who offends all cults equally.
But there also seems to be some malpractice in the trip itself. The thing is The Government invited more than 20 businessmen -among which stand out Eduardo Elzstain, Cristiano Ratazzi, Daniel Funes de Rioja, Hugo Sigman, and Alejandro Bulgheroni– to the Vatican. Although each person will pay for the trip out of their own pocket, the mega-department aroused annoyance. It has never been seen that a local leader takes businessmen to a meeting of this caliber. “Do you think that seeing the Pope is going to do business?” asked a source from the Vatican. One last fact: Francisco determined to receive Milei in the Apostolic Library, a second-rate place to receive the presidents, unlike their residence, the Palacio de Santa Marta.
On Sunday, during the match, it will be known which side the coin landed on. But the omens are bad.
