Argentina’s newly elected president, Javier Milei, has arranged a private audience with Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, scheduled for February 12. The Vatican announced this on Monday, stating that during the meeting, Milei is expected to extend an invitation for Pope Francis to visit Argentina.
The 87-year-old Pope has not visited his homeland since assuming the role of head of the Catholic Church in 2013. Before his election in October, Milei had made critical remarks about Francis, referring to him as “the evil one,” “nefarious,” and an “imbecile” who “promotes communism.”
However, the two seemed to reconcile when Pope Francis congratulated the libertarian president on his election, and Milei subsequently invited the Pope for a visit. In addition to the private audience, Milei, 53, is set to attend a mass on February 11 for the canonization of Argentina’s first female saint at St Peter’s Basilica.
Describing himself as an ‘anarcho-capitalist,’ Milei, who was raised Catholic, claims to have studied the Jewish Torah in recent years.