Martina Jaureguy 
Vice President Victoria Villarruel met Pope Francis for the first time in the Vatican on Monday. The visit, part of the vice’s tour of Europe, came weeks after the pontiff criticized President Javier Milei for the violent police crack down on people protesting a presidential veto that overturned a pensions raise.
A source close to Villarruel described the meeting as “very affectionate.”
“I’m still alive. Are you surviving?” Francis told Villarruel when she asked how he was, as shown in a video she shared. “I’m so glad to see you standing up,” she replied. The pope usually uses a wheelchair because of pain in his knee, but was using a cane during Monday’s meeting.
Francis welcomed Villarruel into the Vatican Apostolic Library, and they spoke for almost an hour. The pope showed “displays of affection” for Villarruel and was “very happy and thankful” for the meeting, the source said.
Villarruel gave him a horse and a foal statue and Spanish nougat. The pope gave her a rosary he had blessed, all of his encyclicals, a book, and a bronze plaque showing images of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The plaque is a replica of one in St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican.
He also expressed interest in the social situation in Argentina. The issue has caused friction between the Milei government and the Vatican: in mid-September, members of Milei’s government accused the pope of having “Peronist sympathies” after he criticized a crackdown on retirees who were protesting to demand higher pensions.
“I saw a police crackdown. Workers, people pleading in the streets for their rights. And the police went after them with something that is very expensive, top-notch pepper spray,” the pope said during a symposium on September 20.
“The government stood firm: instead of paying for social justice, they paid for pepper spray. It was in [the government’s] best interest, keep that in mind.”
Leftist social leader Juan Grabois, a Catholic and vociferous opponent of the Milei administration, met with the pope during the event.
Milei currently has a cordial relationship with the pope. Before becoming president, he had called Francis “the representative of the Evil One on Earth” and accused him of having an “affinity with murderous communists,” but has since softened his tone significantly. Milei visited the pontiff in February.
“Don’t back down, and don’t lose your sense of humor,” Francis told Villarruel when the meeting ended. “I’m praying for you, but please, pray for me,” she asked him before leaving and waving him goodbye.
“Thank you, Holy Father, for your words and advice, and for always keeping our dear Argentina in your mind” Villarruel wrote on X after the meeting.
Villarruel’s visit to the Vatican was her last stop in her first international trip as vice president. She spent last week in Spain, where she spoke at a United Nations conference on terrorism and met the country’s king, Philip VI. She also visited the Spanish Senate and met with Argentine and Spanish businesspeople at the Argentine embassy in Madrid.
