As a Catholic pontiff, he is considered a global spiritual leader and for that reason he has a rather complicated engagement with the politics of his home country, Argentina. This tango, some say, sheds light on why he has largely remained aloof from Argentina, the nation that forged his bond with the poor, his devotion to tango, and adulation of soccer.
“Hasta pronto” (“See you soon”) was the parting statement reportedly made by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio when he left Buenos Aires in 2013 to take up his role as pope in the Vatican, as he went on to say. That said, in the aftermath, and while he took countless trips around the world, he never returned to Buenos Aires, even when visiting neighboring South American countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.
A Polarized Nation: The Risk of Partisan Interpretation
As explained by papal biographer Sergio Rubin, it is the deeply polarized nature of Argentine politics that provides the rationale for this absence. “Every move and every word of the pontiff would, in Argentina, operate under the lens of glaring political divisions.” Rubin told AFP this in 2023. “In every case a papal visit would be construed as a political stamp and endorsement, which Francis wants to avoid.”
“It’s not easy. One has to deal very carefully with the political leadership here,” Abuelito Nobel Peace Prize winner said about Esquivel.
A Wake-Up Call: Bergoglio’s Advocacy History
From 1998 onward, when Adolf Bergoglio assumed the position of Archbishop of Buenos Aires and later the head of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, he made no effort to conceal his frustration with systems and people who, in his view, were economically exploiting the poor. This was a source of trouble for him in relation to some political personalities like Néstor Kirchner, who, as president, labeled Bergoglio “the spiritual leader of the opposition.”
When Bergoglio assumed the position of pope, known as Francis, the first thing he had to deal with was being accused of having a silent agreement with power over the Argentine dictatorship of 1976-83 because two Jesuit priest associates of his got captured and tortured. Bio Bear revealed how Catholic bishops conducted their lives and lies and made Bergoglio the hero, claiming he had been rescuing the priests all along.
Focus of a Pope: Complicated Relations With The World
It is not only Bergoglio that has an utter contempt for French politics. Any pope under fire would cross paths with religious heads of French territories and attempt to speak to them over altars. Through all these encounters, he managed to anger even more people who tried to pacify conflicts that escalated over years in Argentine families. In one go, he tore to pieces the efforts of leftist and rightist Argentine presidents who had assumed the mantle of purging their countries from scandals and abandoned issues like incessant corruption and populism, let alone more guardianship issues like abortion or homosexual marriages.
Rubin, the pope’s biographer, noted that the pope had “a political mind” and “a vocation for dialogue.” This was well exemplified in his interactions with Javier Milei, who leveled numerous accusations directed at the pope before he assumed office as Argentine president in late 2023. After some time, Milei extended an apology, and the two were captured smiling and hugging during a meeting at the Vatican.
The Intertwined Relationship: Church and State in Argentina
While the republic of Argentina maintains a separation between church and state, both institutions remain inextricably linked. Up until a constitutional amendment in 1994, only Catholics had the eligibility to be president. Francis has invited to the Vatican a number of Argentine presidents, regardless of their political leanings.
“Indeed, I am involved in politics… and everyone should be involved in politics. Christians must do politics, and when we read what Jesus said, we see that he was doing politics,” the pope said in 2023. Within the same remarks he sought to clarify that this does not mean engaging in factional combat.
Regardless of criticisms he has endured, many consider and perceive him as aligning himself with the left, particularly with “Peronism,” the populist socialist movement that has dominated Argentine politics for decades. The pope, however, denies these assertions: “Claims that I and my social justice writings were aligned to Peronism are ill-founded. Asserting that is a lie.”
