Pope Francis receives Milei at the Vatican in February

Javier Milei will travel to the Vatican in February 2024 to meet with Pope Francis. Although there is still no official confirmation of this trip, the newspaper La Nación reports that several representatives of the Argentine executive will attend the canonization ceremony of Mamá Antula in Rome, who will become the first Catholic saint of Argentine origin.

There is some uncertainty regarding the new Argentine government’s relationship with the Holy See due to the lack of appointments to positions of responsibility in the Argentine Government’s Secretariat of Worship and the South American country’s representative office to the Vatican.

This official visit by Javier Milei to the Vatican comes after the Argentine president sent a letter to the Pontiff, inviting him to visit the South American country. In this letter, Milei writes words of praise for the head of the Holy See, after having made very critical statements about Pope Francis in the months prior to his election as President of Argentina. In his message to Bergoglio, Milei says: “I believe that your trip will bring about peace and unity among all Argentines, who are eager to overcome our divisions and conflicts. Your presence and your message will contribute to the much-desired unity of all our compatriots and will give us the collective strength necessary to preserve our peace and work for the prosperity and enrichment of our beloved Republic”.