Macri retaliates against Pope Francis by banning radio program that aired Francis' speeches. [View all]

[forest444]

Argentine President Mauricio Macri ordered that a daily radio program that aired speeches and homilies by Pope Francis be suspended indefinitely. The now former director of the public station Market Radio 90.9 FM, Martín García, reported that the new authorities banned the program, known as Pope Francis' Message, Anytime, on the rationale that "it is not appropriate." García revealed that Macri's appointees demanded that the station "stop airing that" and fired the technician responsible for producing the broadcasts.

The order comes days after Pope Francis expressed concern over the imprisonment of indigenous rights activist Milagro Sala, who has been in jail by order of a governor closed allied with Macri since January 16 with no charges. Francis sent the jailed activist a blessed rosary over the weekend by way of a church emissary.

The ban on papal broadcasts also comes just eleven days before President Macri's first state visit to the Vatican, a meeting touted by the administration as proof of a good relationship between the conservative Macri and the progressive Pope Francis. "The aspiration on the part of the President is to launch a mature and institutional relationship with the top hierarchy of the Church," Macri's Chief of Staff, Marcos Peña, said.

Critics, however, point out that Pope Francis' broadcasts, which often included subjects such as exclusion, globalization, neocolonialism, the importance of social organizations, labor issues, and the moral need for an equitable distribution of resources, ran counter to the Macri administration's "pro-market" outlook.

Like much of Argentina's public sector, the station has suffered from a wave of layoffs since Macri took office two months ago. Located in the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market, in the working-class suburb of Tapiales, the station has already lost five employees - including its music director and the technician who aired Pope Francis' program.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.infonews.com/nota/280882/a-once-dias-de-la-visita-de-macri-al-vaticano&prev=search