A group of more than 20 Argentine Catholic priests celebrated a joint “Mass of Atonement” in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, to defend Pope Francis and respond to statements issued by libertarian economist, lawmaker, and presidential front-runner Javier Milei in 2020.
In those remarks, Milei accused the Pope of being an “imbecile who defends social justice,” a “son of a bitch preaching communism,” and “the representative of the evil one on Earth.” Milei remains outspokenly critical of Pope Francis, although his tone has moderated since he took the lead in the October election.
The “Mass of Atonement” event was organized by the Curas Villeros (“Villager Priests”), a group of Argentine Catholic priests established in the late 1960s who live in Argentina’s slums or shantytowns.
“This Mass is to reject insults and in support of Pope Francis,” priest Jose “Pepe” Di Paola said. Di Paola worked closely with the pope when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio prior to becoming Pope Francis in 2013.
Pope Francis meets students at Portugal’s Catholic University on August 3, 2023, in Lisbon, Portugal. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty)
“He has called Pope Francis insults like an imbecile and worse things,” Buenos Aires priest Lorenzo De Vedia said. “That is why we are having this mass today.”
The Mass was celebrated in defense of Pope Francis and in rejection of Milei’s public criticism and harsh insults that he issued against the pope throughout the years, specifically including statements issued in an interview given by Milei in November 2020. In that interview, Milei delivered a harsh condemnation of socialism and communism, and heavily criticized the pope over his defense of “social justice.”
“Envy was a capital sin, it would be necessary to inform the imbecile who is in Rome [Pope Francis] and defends social justice to know that it is theft and that it goes against the commandments, that envy, which is the basis of social justice, is a capital sin and an aberration,” Milei said.
“I am going to say it up front, the pope is the representative of the evil one on Earth occupying the throne of the house of God,” he continued. “Did you know that the pope promotes communism with all the disasters it caused and that goes against the Holy Scriptures?”
“States are an invention of the evil one, that is why every time socialism is applied it sinks and generates a disaster. So, I have no problem in saying what I say about the unpresentable one who is in Rome, because he promotes poverty and a regime of misery,” Milei asserted.
In his homily, Di Paola affirmed that “it is unworthy of a candidate to say what he says against the Pope and to go against social justice, which is part of the Gospel and the social doctrine of the Church.”
“The attack goes to the roots of faith and humanism,” he continued. “I understand the angry vote for the ruling class, but it is necessary that the politicians and all the candidates put on their desks the agenda of the popular [poor] neighborhoods.”
Milei’s 2020 interview and his harsh criticism of Pope Francis were brought into the spotlight amidst the ongoing electoral campaign ahead of Argentina’s October 22 general election. Milei is the front-runner after emerging as the most voted candidate in August’s open primary election process.
If elected, the libertarian presidential candidate and his La Libertad Avanza (“Liberty Advances”) coalition have promised to carry out sweeping reforms and a significant reduction of government in Argentina, a country that has been predominantly led by leftist governments and is currently going through a severe economic crisis, with over 131 percent inflation and a crumbling currency that has led to an over 40 percent poverty rate.
One of Milei’s proposals includes discarding the crumbling Argentine peso and adopting the U.S. dollar as Argentina’s legal tender, a process commonly referred in the region as “dollarization” and which Ecuador, El Salvador, and Panama have implemented.
The priests criticized a prospective dollarization under Milei during the Mass, urging the Argentine electorate to “think before voting.”
“Those of us who were there in 2001 know what it is like to have nothing and to have to live through a crisis with nothing, precisely as a result of the dollarization of Argentina, which ended in a terrible chaos,” Di Paola said.
The priests also read a letter signed by current leftist President Alberto Fernández, in which he “echoed” the calls made during the mass against Milei while expressing “deep affection and respect for the pastoral work carried out by the priests.”
Following the Mass, the priests proceeded to read a joint statement that was also published on their website shortly afterwards, in which they expressed their “most energetic” repudiation to Milei’s statements against Pope Francis, which affect “the sensitivity of the Catholic flock and those who esteem him.”
“With astonishment we were able to verify in tweets dating back to 2017 addressing the Holy Father saying ‘you like the shit of social justice’ and so the hatred in his messages was growing turning into aggravations without limits until 2018, when he referred to Francis with the worst of insults, crossing all the borders of hatred,” the statement reads.
“One ends up wondering if someone with such an emotional disorder, who cannot meet with those who think differently without shouting and insulting, can withstand the stresses of the public office to which he aspires,” the statement continues.
Pope Francis, who has not visited Argentina since taking office in 2013, stated earlier this year that he plans to visit Argentina sometime in 2024.
Milei has maintained that, if elected president, he will respect Pope Francis as “the head of the Catholic Church,” describing him as the “spiritual leader” of the majority of Argentines and adding that he will get a reception “according to a head of state” should he decide to visit Argentina in 2024.