Argentine President Mauricio Macri gets icy reception from his fellow countryman, Pope Francis. [View all]
What was Saturday’s meeting between President Mauricio Macri and Pope Francis at the Vatican like? According to Spain’s largest newspaper El País, a “clear distance" that not even Macri's key adviser Jaime Durán Barba can deny.
“Macri traveled to Rome to soften a relation with the Pope that seemed complex already before he arrived in the government. But gestures show things resulted even worst than what it was expected,” the article published today in El País said. “The meeting lasted only 22 minutes, Francis’ face was very serious, cold and the president later admitted that the Pope had confirmed he won't be travelling to Argentina in 2016.”
“There are two factors that weigh the cordiality index during the meetings Pope Francis holds with foreign leaders. One of them is his face during the traditional exchange of gifts. The other one, the duration of the private meeting. And this time both factors refer to a cold meeting, too cold especially for an Argentine pope greeting the president of his country,” the article points out.
Pope Francis, moreover, showed a “serious, calculated” expression, without the “camaraderie or the jokes that have typified Pope Francis (the first Latin American pope) when speaking to someone who, from a religious, cultural or political point of view, differs from his own convictions.”
“The Argentine president insisted the meeting had been ‘very good’; but he and his key adviser, Ecuadorian spinmeister Jaime Durán Barba, know better than anybody that modern politics are about images - and the one that will remain is Francis’ gesture.”
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/209636/international-media-highlight-icy-popemacri-encounter
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It's a wonder Pope Francis even bothered to greet Macri, who always seems to forget that respect is a two-way street. http://www.democraticunderground.com/110847557
[center]Macri, Pope Francis, and Macri's sweatshop-owning wife, Juliana.[/center]
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