Argentine President Javier Milei met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday.
At the meeting, the Argentine presented Francis with sandwich biscuits “alfajores de dulce de leche” and a special brand of lemon biscuits that the Pope likes.
The meeting began at 9 a.m. local time (8 a.m. GMT) and ended at 10 a.m., followed by the welcoming of the delegation and the presentation of gifts, the Vatican said.
In addition to the biscuits, the president presented the pontiff with a copy of a handwritten letter from Foreign Minister José María Gutiérrez to Juan Bautista Alberdi on his accreditation as representative to Europe, dated May 1854, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said on social media platform X.
Milei also presented Pope Francis with a photograph of a commemorative postcard of Maria Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, dedicated to the 18th-century laywoman, better known as “Mama Antula,” who became Argentina’s first female saint after her canonisation on Sunday.
In turn, the pontiff presented Milei – as he usually does with those who visit him – with his Message of Peace for the year, some of his writings and a bronze medallion with a cross and a dove inspired by the Baldachin of St. Peter by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which symbolises the harmony between the sacred and the divine that unites heaven and earth.
On Sunday, Milei attended the Mass for the canonisation of Mama Antula, greeted Pope Francis for the first time and embraced him. His gestures were an attempt to make peace with Pope Francis, which the latter reciprocated after Milei called the pontiff “an imbecile who defends social justice.”
Francis, the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, has angered some of his compatriots by not visiting his homeland since becoming pope in 2013. He has said he may finally visit “suffering” Argentina in the second half of this year, although Cardinal Fernandez said Monday that it was still unclear whether a papal trip would take place “because it depends on many things.”
Securing such a visit could be a major boost for Milei, who is keen to please his conservative Catholic supporters.
