The insults and disqualifications of the presidential candidate Javier Milei led to the Pope Francisco to freeze a long-delayed trip: to his country, Argentinawhich he has not stepped foot in since he left it in 2013 to become the head of the Catholic Church.
“Surely the Pope will not go to a place where he is not invited, where his visit can be used or complicated for political convenience or where the authorities despise his presence,” he said. Victor Manuel Fernandez, the prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and a man very close to Francis.
Fernández pointed to the “ultra-right”, in reference to Milei, in statements to a religious site, “Religión Digital”, widely disseminated in Argentina. The reaction came just days after Milei, a populist ultra-liberal who won the presidential primaries in August, harshly attacked the Pope in an interview with the ultra-conservative journalist Tucker Carlson.