Pope Francis criticises repression of protests by Javier Milei’s government

Pope Francis on Friday criticized the recent repression of protests in Argentina by the government of Javier Mileiunusual statements regarding the strong tensions shaking his country.

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“They showed me a video of a repression, a week ago or a little less, perhaps. Workers, people who were demanding their rights in the street. The police repelled them with something that is the most expensive there is, that top-quality pepper spray.”he said at a meeting in Rome with representatives of social movements from around the world.

The head of the Catholic Church, speaking in Spanish, did not mention Argentina or its president by name, but appeared to be referring to the September 12 demonstration in Buenos Aires against a veto on a pension increase, during which police used tear gas and rubber bullets.

“Why didn’t they have the right to claim what was theirs? Why were they rioters? Communists? No, nothing.”continued the Pope at this meeting on the premises of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

“The government stood firm. Instead of paying for social justice, it paid for the pepper spray”added the 87-year-old Argentine pope.

“Silence in the face of injustice opens the way to social division, and social division opens the way to verbal violence, and verbal violence to physical violence, and physical violence to war of all against all,” he insisted during this meeting broadcast on the Vatican’s YouTube channel.

Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said that the Argentine government respects and listens to Pope Francis: “We don’t have to share his vision on some things, but we have total and absolute respect for what the Pope may say about anything,” he detailed in a press conference.

Since coming to power in December, President Javier Milei has been implementing a drastic austerity policy that has resulted in several monthly budget balances, unprecedented for 15 years, as well as a strong recession (-3.5% expected by the end of 2024).

Pope Francis received Milei for the first time in the Vatican in February, in an audience lasting more than an hour in which they exchanged gifts and displays of kindness.

But the far-right stance of the ultra-liberal president seems to be at odds with that of the Jesuit, who advocates helping the most disadvantaged and denounces the aberrations of the financial markets.

Jorge Bergoglio, originally from Buenos Aires, has not returned to his country since his election to head the Catholic Church in 2013.

The pope indicated in a press conference on September 13 that his possible visit to Argentina, a plan that had been mentioned for several months, remained up in the air.

“I would like to go, it’s my town” […] but it is not yet decided. There are several things to be resolved before then,” he explained.

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