Pope Francis yesterday elevated to sainthood the first female saint from his native Argentina, an event that was attended at the Vatican by his former strong critic, Argentine President Javier Milei.
Milei, a maverick right-wing libertarian, in the past called Francis an “imbecile,” a “son-of-a-bitch preaching communism” and the devil’s man on earth — but has softened his tone since taking office in December.
The pope, for his part, has said he did not pay too much attention to the insults, telling Mexican broadcaster N+ that what matters is what politicians do in office, rather than on the campaign trail.
Photo: Reuters
Francis led a canonization Mass for Maria Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, better known as “Mama Antula,” an 18th-century woman who renounced her family’s riches to focus on charity and Jesuit spiritual exercises.
The ceremony comes as Argentina is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation at more than 200 percent.
Francis has said he hopes to be able make his first trip back to his homeland since being pope in 2013 in the second half of this year.
The Argentine leader, who has said he might convert to Judaism, attended the service in St Peter’s Basilica with his entourage, and is to have a private audience with Francis today.
Mama Antula was the daughter of a wealthy landholder and slave owner. She promoted the spiritual exercises — a mix of prayers and meditations — walking thousands of kilometers barefoot, involving the rich and poor, despite the Jesuits having at the time been banished from Latin America.
At a meeting with pilgrims from Argentina on Friday, Francis described her as a “gift to the Argentine people and also to the entire Church,” praising her dedication to the poor.
Quoting from his past writings, the pope condemned the “radical individualism” that permeates today’s society as a “virus,” in words that might jar with Milei’s radical free-market instincts.
Milei is also due to meet Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni today, wrapping up a week-long overseas tour that took him to Israel before Italy and the Vatican.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS