Pope Francis had a close and caring relationship with his home country, but always avoided interfering in everyday Argentine politics. He welcomed every president who served during his tenure. Cristina Kirchner, Mauricio Macri, Alberto Fernández, and even Javier Milei, who actually once described him as “the representative of the Evil one on Earth”, all had their picture taken with him. 

Pope Francis spoke several times about visiting Argentina. In a biographical book published a few years ago, he revealed that he had originally planned a return to the country for December 2017. 

“I want to go to Argentina,” he said at the time.

It was, perhaps, his greatest unfulfilled wish. A visit to Argentina was always postponed, waiting for a calmer political period that never arrived.

Meeting with Cristina Kirchner, a political turnaround

Then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected Pope Francis on March 13, 2013, at the age of 76. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was in the midst of his second presidency. She was welcomed by the pope four times and was the Argentine president who visited him the most. 

Francis’s appointment came amid a strained relationship between the government and the Church. Although the Kirchner administration viewed him with suspicion, the president didn’t hesitate and embraced a full-hearted relationship with the pope.

Tense meeting with Mauricio Macri

Former President Mauricio Macri met with Pope Francis twice. The first formal meetingin January 2018 was marked by tension, as Francis criticized him several times for his political moves. In his second visit that year, Macri was joined by his young daughter Antonia, which helped soften the cold relationship.

Meetings with Alberto Fernández

On January 31, 2020, Francis welcomed then-President Alberto Fernández at the Vatican. The meeting, which lasted 44 minutes, was the first official meeting between the two since the president’s inauguration in 2019.

After the meeting, during the formal exchange of gifts, Pope Francis asked President Alberto Fernández to be a “messenger of peace.” He gifted him a medallion-shaped sculpture symbolizing peace, containing an olive tree, a vine, and a dove.

In a press conference he gave later in Rome, Pope Francis described the meeting as relaxed. “We laughed a lot, we shared many common ground, and I listened to his advice. We didn’t talk about the pope’s visit to Argentina; I don’t want him to feel pressured. Argentina is his home, and the doors are always open,” he commented.

Fernández had another private meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican City following the pandemic in May 2020. The two men emphasized the “very good atmosphere.”

The pair talked about coronavirus pandemic, their agreement on the need to free vaccine patents, and the Argentine pontiff’s “silent support” for the debt renegotiation with the IMF.

Fernández had planned to meet with the pontiff in November 2023, but decided to cancel it to move forward with the presidential transition with Javier Milei.

His meeting with Javier Milei and the possibility of a visit to Argentina

President Javier Milei met with Pope Francis in February 2024 at the Vatican. This was the first and only private meeting between the two since exchanging greetings at the canonization of the newly crowned Argentine saint Mamá Antula. Afterwards, the president presented his plan on how to deal with Argentina’s economic crisis to the State Secretariat of the Holy See.

One of the topics on agenda, as the president had previously announced, was the invitation for the pope to visit Argentina. Francis considered the visit “a possibility” for the second half of the year.

Milei revealed later that year that he had been sending the pope data on the country’s social and economic situation. “We always talk about situations of vulnerability, he receives a report from Human Capital about what we are doing, so he is aware and does not receive distorted information. These are deep, complex issues, and he has the greatness to insert jokes to relax,” the president added.

Originally published in Ámbito