Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian main the polls in Argentina’s presidential election this month, has made a number of contentious statements in recent times: People didn’t trigger local weather change; folks ought to be capable to promote their organs; his nation’s foreign money “isn’t even good as manure.”
However, to many Argentines, he has carried out one thing far worse: attacked the pope.
In 2020, Mr. Milei, a self-identifying Catholic, referred to as Pope Francis an “imbecile” and “the consultant of the Evil One on earth” as a result of he defends “social justice.” Final 12 months, Mr. Milei mentioned the pope “all the time stands on the aspect of evil” as a result of he helps taxes.
And final month, in an interview with the previous Fox Information host Tucker Carlson, Mr. Milei mentioned the pope “has an affinity for murderous communists” and is violating the Ten Commandments.
These are daring phrases for a person making an attempt to turn into president in Argentina, the place almost two out of three folks establish as Catholic, the place the state is formally Catholic and the place the Argentine pope is, to many, a nationwide hero.
However Mr. Milei — a Rolling Stones cowl band singer turned libertarian economist turned tv pundit turned politician — isn’t your common presidential candidate.
He has run with little occasion construction round him. He has vowed to decimate the federal government he’s vying to guide. He guarantees deep cuts to social companies. He desires to discard his nation’s foreign money.
And as a substitute of campaigning with a partner and youngsters, Mr. Milei has an speedy household that consists of his sister (who runs his marketing campaign), his girlfriend (who will get paid to impersonate a political archrival) and his 5 Mastiff canine (that are clones of his earlier canine).
The strategy could also be unorthodox, however it’s working.
In August, Mr. Milei gained open primaries with 30 p.c of the vote, forward of candidates from the center-left occasion operating the nation and the institution conservative occasion.
Since then, he has continued to guide polls and analysts say he’s more likely to entice sufficient votes within the election on Sunday to both head to a runoff or win the presidency outright.
However his previous feedback are nonetheless shadowing him.
“He talked trash concerning the pope,” mentioned Maria Vera, 47, an empanada vendor in a big slum referred to as Villa 21-24 in southern Buenos Aires. “If Milei doesn’t have respect for our holiest priest, I don’t know whom he’s going to have respect for.” She isn’t voting for him, she mentioned.
On a highway resulting in the slum, partitions had been coated with posters of the pope’s face and a transparent message: “Milei hates him. The folks love him. Which aspect are you on?”
The Vatican has stayed quiet on the difficulty and didn’t reply to a request for remark. However in Argentina, church leaders are pushing again.
Final month, a few of Argentina’s high Catholic monks organized a mass in Villa 21-24 to atone for Mr. Milei’s “shameful insults” towards the pope. They erected an altar exterior the church, and 30 monks stood and browse an announcement supporting Pope Francis, as parishioners crammed the highway.
The chief of the church, the Rev. Lorenzo de Vedia, recognized broadly as Padre Toto, mentioned a lot of his flock continued to deliver up Mr. Milei’s feedback. “Even people who find themselves not so concerned within the day by day lifetime of the church are actually offended,” all of the extra so, he mentioned, now that Mr. Milei “has an opportunity to be president.”
Mr. Milei’s marketing campaign declined to make him accessible for an interview.
His opponents have tried to grab on the controversy.
Sergio Massa, Argentina’s finance minister, who’s polling simply behind Mr. Milei, used his one probability to query Mr. Milei throughout a debate this month to needle him concerning the pope. “You insulted the pinnacle of the church,” he mentioned. “Please use these 45 seconds to express regret to a very powerful Argentine in historical past.”
Mr. Milei sought to dismiss his previous feedback, saying he made them earlier than he entered politics, although a number of have come since he was elected to Congress in 2021. He additionally mentioned he had apologized to the pope, although The Occasions couldn’t discover a file of that and his marketing campaign couldn’t present specifics.
“I’ve no drawback apologizing if I’m mistaken,” Mr. Milei mentioned to his opponent on the debate. “Cease taunting me and deal with reducing inflation.”
Some individuals who had been as soon as near Mr. Milei have criticized his feedback concerning the pope.
Eduardo Eurnekian, considered one of Argentina’s most distinguished businessmen and Mr. Milei’s former boss when he was an economist, mentioned in a radio interview that Mr. Milei’s feedback had been “completely out of line,” including that “the pope is the pope, he has an enormous accountability, and we’ve been respecting his determine for over 2,000 years.”
However loads of different allies — and voters — are much less troubled by his feedback.
Within the tiny city of Chicoana in northern Argentina, Daniel Mamani, 64, has performed the position of Jesus Christ within the city’s Easter celebration for greater than a decade.
Whereas Mr. Milei’s feedback concerning the pope made him uncomfortable, he mentioned, he plans to vote for him as a result of the nation wants change. “He must pay for his money owed, gained’t he? That’s, with the Lord above,” Mr. Mamani, an auto mechanic, mentioned. “I’m within the half that’s going to assist Argentina’s well-being.”
Lilia Lemoine, Mr. Milei’s pal and hair stylist operating for Congress on his ticket, mentioned that she and Mr. Milei had lengthy spoken about what she described because the pope’s leftist positions.
“I feel precisely the identical as he does,” she mentioned of Mr. Milei. The pope “helps communism and gender ideology, and I don’t assume that’s what Catholicism is.” She added, “Javier apologized for what he mentioned, however I wouldn’t.”
Ms. Lemoine mentioned that Mr. Milei had additionally been transferring away from the Catholic church in different methods. “Now he’s learning kabbalah,” a type of Jewish mysticism, she mentioned. “He turned actually shut buddies with a few rabbis.”
The truth is, after Mr. Milei gained a seat in Argentina’s Congress in 2021, a number of Argentine information retailers quoted him as saying that he was contemplating changing to Judaism and aspired “to turn into the primary Jewish president within the historical past of Argentina.” Mr. Milei’s marketing campaign denied that he had ever mentioned that.
In August, in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nación, Mr. Milei mentioned that, in some ways, he felt Jewish. “I don’t go to church, I’m going to temple,” he mentioned. “I don’t discuss to monks, I’ve a head rabbi and I examine Torah. I’m internationally acknowledged as a pal of Israel and a Torah scholar.”
Final month, Mr. Milei mentioned he went to Miami to spend Shabbat with buddies after which flew to New York to fulfill with a rabbi.
Nonetheless, Mr. Milei has continued to explain himself as a Catholic and has staked out positions extra in keeping with Vatican coverage than his opponents, together with aiming to ban abortion, which was legalized in Argentina in 2020.
Pope Francis was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires in 1936. From 1998 to his election as pope in 2013, he was Argentina’s highest Catholic official, recognized for his work with the poor.
The pope has clashed with politicians earlier than. His staunch help for the Vatican’s positions on social points, together with abortion, same-sex marriage and adoptions by homosexual {couples}, additionally made him a type of political rival to the previous left-wing presidents of Argentina, Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
In 2010, when Mrs. Kirchner’s authorities supported legalizing same-sex marriage, Francis, who was not but pope, described the legislation as “a maneuver by the satan.” Mrs. Kirchner fired again that the church’s stance was “medieval.”
Mr. Milei’s criticism has been a lot harsher. He has referred to as Pope Francis a “filthy leftist,” an “embarrassing communist,” a “piece of shit” and a “potato.” (The Spanish phrase for “pope” additionally means “potato.”)
Throughout his 10 years as the primary pope from the Americas, Pope Francis has visited all of Argentina’s neighbors — however not Argentina. It has been broadly speculated that he has averted his dwelling nation to maintain out of its polarizing politics.
However Francis has mentioned he plans to return dwelling subsequent 12 months.
Who could be welcoming him? President Milei.
Natalie Alcoba contributed reporting from Buenos Aires.
