The bishops said the pope had expressed his "desire" to visit Argentina

May 2, 2019

The declarations were part of the traditional visit that the prelates had to organize every five years and stated that "the difficulty is an agenda".

This Thursday morning, Pope Francis received 31 bishops at the Vatican and confirmed his "desire" to visit Argentina. But he gave no information to confirm when he would come back on an apostolic visit to his country, which has never happened in six years of pontificate. "The difficulty is an agenda," Archbishop Andrés Stanovnik justified at the end of the two hours of the meeting.

During a meeting with the press, the The Archbishop of La Plata, Víctor Fernández, said: "We have no idea, neither for the yes nor for the no, we only know that it is very difficult".

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The pope met for two hours with 31 of the 33 bishops that make up the first group of episcopalians. The ad limina visit ends with the collective audience with the pope, visits and liturgy in the four pontifical basilicas and meetings with the main dicasteries of the Roman Curia, the governing body of the Vatican.

The audience with the pontiff began with an introduction of the Bishop of Chascomús and the Secretary General of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, Msgr Caros Malfa.

The meeting with Francisco focused on the badysis and balance of critical economic and social situation in Argentina.when the country will have an eventful presidential election that will end in October-November.

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Archbishops Victor Fernandez (La Plata), Carlos Azpiroz Costa (Bahia Blanca), Andrés Stanovnik (Corrientes), Juan Puiggari (Paraná), Eduardo Martín (Rosario), Sergio Fenoy (Santa Fe) and Ramón are part of the episcopal group. Dus (resistance). This Friday, the bishops of the first group will be received by the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin.

The Saturday the visit will end with a Mbad at the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the visit to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

On Sunday, the second group of 29 bishops began their visit, among them the President of the Argentine Bishops' Conference, Oscar Ojea. The Pope will receive them in audience on Friday 10 at 10 am, five hours less in Argentina.

The third group of 44 bishops from Patagonia, Central, Cuyo and North West will make their ad limina visit between June 12th and 18th. The Pope will receive them on Friday 17 at the same time.