The Vatican tried to convince the government not to ask the President for an audience with the Pope

The first signs that Alberto Fernández would seek an audience from the Pope – the second since he became president – prompted a apparent discomfort in the Vatican.

He is still in raw meat the hurt he caused in Francisco’s and the Church’s relationship with the president approval of the legalization of abortion in the land of the pontiff. And especially, the fact that Fernández drove her with so much effort in the midst of the health crisis and the consequent worsening of the economic and social situation.

He was also upset that the President – in the opinion of the Church – had pressured several senators to vote affirmatively on the bill.

But the deterioration of the link with the Pope worsened when the Casa Rosada – on the eve of the crucial Senate vote – let it be known that the Pope would have liked the initiative to be voted on legal as soon as possible and therefore the controversy will be closed once and for all. “Francis – they say in Rome – felt manipulated with a mistake“. In fact, his dialogue with the president was interrupted.

For this reason, after receiving the first indications that Alberto Fernández wanted to see the Pope again, the Vatican Secretariat of State transmitted to the government convenience that the meeting be postponed.

Rome could only choose persuasion because the customs and styles of their diplomacy say that a Head of State, like the Pope, must not refuse an audience to a President of the Nation, and even less to a predominantly Catholic country (and who is from his country).

That the meeting be part of the President’s tour of several countries to obtain support for his debt renegotiation strategy with the IMF and the Paris Club they did not add a good reason to ask for the papal audience, they say in Rome.

Francis has already specified – in accordance with the traditional position of the Church – his support for a generous consideration of the debt of developing countries. In addition, he recently received the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, who was for this purpose.

In any case, it seems clearer to the Vatican that what Alberto Fernández is looking for is a political recognition of the pontiff in a moment of weakness following the harassment suffered by the Vice-President, her relatives and the Cámpora.

And in a context of sharp decline in popularity ever since he decided to embrace Cristina Kirchner’s confrontational speech. They have already taken note that the government wants to give wide distribution at the meeting: They invited a dozen journalists to the trip.

The government feeds expectations. For example, he specifies that the public will not be in Santa Marta as it was initially thought (it is that this day – Thursday – is a public holiday in the Vatican), but in the majestic setting of the Apostolic Palace. And that at the end Francisco will welcome the presidential entourage. But this can be read in another way: that the visit will be official and, therefore, must adhere to a strict protocol which, among other things, limit meeting time from 20 minutes to a custom time.

In any case, the Pope’s support for a generous consideration of the payment of the external debt is clear. “The debt is not paid by Alberto Fernández, or Cristina Kirchner, or Mauricio Macri”, they say in the Church to clarify that Francisco’s attitude does not carry partisan favoritism.

After all, the president asked him for help at the start of his tenure and that’s why It surprised the Holy See that he simultaneously promoted the legalization of abortion.

What cannot be denied – according to all observers – is that Guzmán has Francisco’s “blessing”. He met him months before the last elections during a visit he made accompanying the Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz – his mentor – who in turn came from the hand of the pontifical foundation Scholas Occurentes in order to develop content for universities of an economy with a human face.

It is not a minor fact in the context of harassment that Guzmán also suffers within the ruling coalition. But in the case of the president, we will have to see if he takes all the income from his time in the Vatican. The risk he runs is that -with his subtle ways- the Holy See makes it clear After the meeting that the Pope’s bond with him is not going through the best time.

BORN