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Argentine President Javier Milei honored his compatriot Pope Francis following his passing on Monday, celebrating his “indefatigable struggle… to protect life from conception, promote interreligious dialogue,” and youth outreach.
The Vatican announced on Monday that Pope Francis died at age 88 on Monday morning following a final appearance during Easter celebration services the night before. The pontiff had struggled for months with respiratory illness prior to his passing, spending weeks hospitalized in February and March. Pope Francis, born in Argentina as Jorge Bergoglio, was selected as the first Latin American pope and the first representing the Jesuit Order in 2013, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis dedicated much of his legacy to advocacy for the dignity of migrants, climate change awareness, and mediation efforts with some of the world’s most repressive regimes. Prior to becoming president in 2023, Milei, a libertarian economist, publicly disparaged Pope Francis repeatedly, accusing him of representing “evil” and advocating for “social justice.” He visited the Vatican and met with Pope Francis for what both sides described as a “friendly” and warm meeting, embracing and laughing in photos.
Milei made brief mention of his disagreements with the pope in his message on Monday, describing them as “minor” and honoring his legacy.
“With profound pain I find out on this sad day that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, died today and is now resting in peace,” Milei said in a message published to social media. “Despite our differences that today are minor, being able to meet him in his graciousness and wisdom was a true honor for me.”
“As president, as an Argentine, and, fundamentally, as a man of faith, I say goodbye to the Holy Father and accompany all who find ourselves today with this sad news.”
Milei, a Catholic who has stated publicly his intent to convert to Judaism following the end of his presidency, declared a seven-day national mourning period on Monday. The presidential office also published a separate statement honoring Pope Francis.
“The Argentine Republic, a country with a long Catholic tradition and the land of Pope Francis, profoundly laments the departure of His Holiness and sends its condolences to the Bergoglio family,” the statement read. “President Javier Milei highlights the indefatigable struggle of Francis’s papacy to protect life from conception, to promote interreligious dialogue, and bring virtuous and spiritual life closer to the youngest.”
Milei was once arguably the most visceral of the pope’s critics in his home country.
“Envy was a capital sin, it would be necessary to inform the imbecile who is in Rome [Pope Francis] and defends social justice to know that it is theft and that it goes against the commandments,” Milei ranted on a local news program in 2020, “that envy, which is the basis of social justice, is a capital sin and an aberration.”
“I am going to say it up front, the pope is the representative of the evil one on Earth occupying the throne of the house of God,” he continued. “Did you know that the pope promotes communism with all the disasters it caused and that goes against the Holy Scriptures?”
Milei went on to argue that Pope Francis “promotes poverty and a regime of misery.”
Milei’s comments prompted over 20 Argentine priests to organize a “Mass of Atonement” three years later, when Milei emerged as a presidential frontrunner in that year’s election. Milei went on to win that election and Pope Francis sent him an invitation to the Vatican shortly after his inauguration.
The two met in February 2024. In the public part of their meeting, the pope joked to Milei about his hair and the two laughed and hugged. Both sides described their conversation as “cordial” and the atmosphere as friendly.
During their exchange, Milei gifted Pope Francis a copy of a handwritten letter from late Chancellor José María Gutiérrez to late Argentine diplomat Juan Bautista Alberdi dated 1854 and some alfajores, a traditional Argentine sandwich cookie. The pope gave Milei a bronze medallion inspired by the Baldachin of St. Peter, volumes of papal documents, and a copy of this year’s Message for Peace.
“One of the things I have realized recently is that the pope is the most important Argentine person in the whole of Argentina, he’s the leader of Catholics in the world,” Milei said in an interview after the visit, announcing that he had “reconsidered some positions” and pursued a “positive” relationship with the pontiff.
Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva presided over a regular Mass on Monday morning which provided the first opportunity to pray for the soul of the pope.
“We pray this Eucharist especially for the eternal rest of the beloved Pope Francis,” the archbishop told congregants. “The pope of the poor, the marginalized, of those who nobody loves or, in any case, many exclude, is gone.”
The Vatican is at press time preparing for a memorial ceremony for the pope and a Conclave to choose his successor.
English (US)