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Argentina’s Javier Milei makes up with Pope Francis over pastries, biscuits

  • Milei had heaped insults on Francis during his election campaign last year, calling him an ‘imbecile who defends social justice’
  • They met as Argentina faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation at more than 200 per cent and Milei in trouble after his major reform package was rejected

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Pope Francis receives Argentina’s President Javier Milei during an audience at the Vatican City. Photo: EPA-EFE
Argentina’s President Javier Milei visited his compatriot Pope Francis and senior Vatican officials on Monday, bearing pastries and biscuits and talking politics as he seeks to make up with the pontiff he had long derided.
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Milei, a maverick right-wing libertarian, had heaped insults on Francis during his vote campaign last year, calling him an “imbecile who defends social justice”. But the president has shifted tone in office as he tries to shore up support among his conservative Catholic base amid mounting challenges.

Francis and Milei spoke for about one hour, the Vatican said, without giving details of the conversation.

They met as Argentina faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation at more than 200 per cent and the newly installed Milei in difficulty following parliamentary rejection of a major reform package.
A man pulls a cart with cardboard in downtown Buenos Aires. Argentina faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation at more than 200 per cent. Photo: AFP
A man pulls a cart with cardboard in downtown Buenos Aires. Argentina faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation at more than 200 per cent. Photo: AFP

The president discussed “the new [Argentine] government’s programme to counter the economic crisis” among other topics, during separate talks with the Vatican’s second-in-command, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a Vatican statement said.

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