Pope Francis Meets Argentina's New President Mauricio Macri at Vatican; Discusses Poverty, Debt & Drugs Trafficking
It was a meeting of two Argentine leaders -- one that holds the most power in the South American country and the other, who is one of the most revered men in the world today.
Pope Francis received his fellow countryman President Mauricio Macri from his home country for a meeting that took place in the Roman Catholic Church's seat of power, the Vatican City, on Saturday, Feb. 27, Vatican Radio reports.
Macri also got the chance to meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's Secretary of State, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States.
"This was a meeting of old acquaintances," said Macri in a press interview. The Argentine Head of State also shared that he and Pope Francis touched on the "problems like poverty and drugs trafficking," Yahoo! News reported
On the part of the Vatican, the meeting between the two world leaders turned out "cordial" and "demonstrated the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the Argentine Republic," the Holy See Press Office wrote in a statement.
The Vatican also seconded Macri's statement that they talked about the two aforementioned social issues and added that the pair also discussed other topics on human rights, assistance for integral development, peace, social reconciliation, and social justice.
During the meeting between the two, Pope Francis and President Macri also talked about the role of the Catholic Church and its contribution to the society of Argentina, particularly to the youth, Yahoo News added.
According to Radio Vatican, President Macri was formerly the Head of Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, where he served between 2007 and 2015, the Vatican Radio also cited. He only took the presidential office last December 2015. Prior to heading the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, he was also elected to the country's lower house of Congress for Buenos Aires in 2005.
On the other hand, the Roman Catholic's top brass had been the Archbishop of Buenos Aires since 1998 until he emerged victorious after the Papal conclave of 2013. He succeeded Pope Benedict XVI after his resignation in the earlier part of 2013.
The two leaders also had some presents to give each other. The Argentine president bestowed the Pope some gifts, which include CDs with traditional Argentine music and tango, a poncho and a wooden Matara Cross. For his part, Pope Francis presented President Macri a peace medallion that bears the symbol of an olive tree.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com