Recently, there has been some perceived tension between the two most powerful argentine leaders in the world. President Macri gave a donation of 16,666,000 pesos (about 1.2 million USD) to a charity foundation that is backed by the pope called Scholas Occurentes. The donation was returned to Macri with a note from the pope that read "I don't like the 666." 666 being a satanic symbol. This sparked some controversy. And despite the numerous statements given by officials at the Vatican saying that it was a completely friendly and courteous exchange, critics of Macri have spun the story into a feud between the President and the Pope. Public interactions between the Pope and high ranking government officials are fairly new to me. It may have something to do with the fact that Pope Francis is from Buenos Aires, or it may just be a more relaxed separation of church and state, I think it is probably both, but President Marci and previous presidents have had a lot more interaction with Pope Francis in the past few months than any american president that I am aware of. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/14/pope-francis-mauricio-macri-argentina-charity-donation-666 Comments are closed.
|