Government Recognizes the Relationship with the Church Is Worse

Growing defiance. Suspicions And even mutual disappointment. Nobody, neither at Casa Rosada, nor in the Metropolitan Cathedral, nor even in the


Vatican
doubts that the relationship between the government of


Mauricio Macri
and the church of


Pope Francis
at its worst, with the


decriminalization of abortion
the discussion of adjustment and its effect on poverty, and even public funding of Catholicism's activities as public litigation issues.

"The relationship with the Church … ufff," sighs the senior official with an office at Casa Rosada when the subject becomes a private conversation with journalism. Although no one says it with all the letters, the official malaise was angered last week when Monsignor Jorge Lugones said that "social sensitivity is necessary" with the governor


Maria Eugenia Vidal
and the Minister of Social Development,


Caroline Stanley
at his side. "It was fuzzy", defined it bluntly to the NATION a member of the small table of the president.

Vidal and Stanley are, curiously enough, two of the best representatives of "The Dialogue Wing" of


Changing
and on the basis of their good personal relations with the Pope, they believe that the dialogue reserved will be able to heal, sooner or later, the wounds exposed that the debate on abortion has brought in the link. The president and the chief of staff,


Marcos Peña
they know that today they are the target of criticism (public and private) of the hierarchy of the Church, but – according to the different sources consulted – appeal to pragmatism and consider the Church as "one more actor"

The President's condemnation to "not veto" the decriminalization of abortion should be approved and to the satisfaction of the head of the cabinet for "the opening of the public debate" on legalization – just what rejected Church – encourage ministers and MPs who, from the pro-government alliance, believe in a "different relationship" with the & # 39; Francisco Church, which they accuse of not having "supported" or shown sympathy for the government, even in time

"They are convinced [en la Iglesia] that we are seeking political revenues, and they are all false speculations, "they say near Peña for defen their boss. "It's very unfair to be reported because all his life he has been trying to have a good relationship with the Church, in the city and now in the Nation," adds another. high official who speaks daily with representatives of the Church, here and there

Named

Near the Pope, they point to Peña for his "liberal" forms, although they mainly accuse and without half-measures the featured consultant Jaime Durán Barba, who says that "the Church does not have any". brings no vote "and supports the legalization of abortion. With him there is no possible dialogue: they once called the Ecuadorian, in the presence of Peña, of "López Rega [José] of the government."

"Peña was the promoter of the abortion debate, and there is just that can not be discussed, like life and death," says a member of the so-called "superstructure" of the Church in Argentina. "They forget the vote of the so-called Catholic right, they do not forgive them anymore", adds the same reference of the Church.

Close and far from the microphones, the chief of the cabinet denies having influenced the vote of the deputies – a fact corroborated by the supporters of the legalization of the martinists and calls for a discreet dialogue with the president of the Episcopal Conference, Oscar Ojea.He also maintains a reliable chain with the rector of the metropolitan cathedral, Alejandro Russo, another unconditional friend of Pope Bergoglio

In his dialogues with the Pope, Vidal and Stanley, who saw him two weeks ago, stressed that their social policies go online "with the support of the Church to those who have less. The same work was done by the secretary of worship, Santiago de Estrada, an old friend of the pope, but who anticipated LA NACION who will leave office in one or two months.

"In the end, the Church is not very touched by liberalism", replies a close friend of the Sovereign Pontiff, in agreement with the words of Lugones, a "gurka" for the government that According to ecclesiastical sources, "will continue to speak" in a critical way, especially with regard to abortion. and the economic crisis.

The sensitivity of bishops has other causes of concern. In one of his latest reports before the lower house, Peña released the figure that the government intends to support Catholic worship: about $ 130 million a year, 7 percent of its total spending, according to sources official. Suspicious, the members of the hierarchy of the Church complain because the government "did nothing" before the recent project presented by Radical deputies Alejandra Echegaray and Carla Carrizo, in which they ask the 39; state "stop paying the salaries of bishops". "Nobody approves this project, radicalism is secular since its inception and has its principles," they said close to the chief of staff.

How to bring tranquility when the "basic" relationships (Macri and Peña with Bergoglio) are less distant? Some believe that an improvement is possible with the name changes. "We should think of a worthwhile interlocutor, who, according to the Vatican and the government," said MPP Pro-Cornelia Schmidt Liermann (Capital) in LA NACION. The idea is to put an end to the "race for pope" that is rampant from time to time within the government, beyond the efforts of the current Macri ambbadador to the Holy See, Rogelio Pfirter [19659020] While the imminent debate on abortion in the Senate is in abeyance for some and for others, the dialogues and pragmatics of the government say that "it will continue to speak" and that "it will continue to speak". no door is closed. "But the prints will continue," predicted with resignation and the knowledge of a senior official outside the Casa Rosada.