Argentina Has Elected a New President

“The end of the decline begins today in Argentina.” The first words of the new president elected to the head of the Argentinian State on November 19, 2023, made teeth grind in the country of Pope Francis. As for him, Javier Milei managed to send a clear message to his political opponents and to those who would be tempted to “resist” his reform: “To all those, I want to say something: all in the framework of the law, nothing outside of that.”

It was a message received loud and clear by the progressive Argentinian clergy who bore the consequences of the attacks of the victor of the election during a presidential campaign in which insults were not lacking.

On the day after the victory of the antiestablishment candidate, Fr. Lorenzo de Vedia—someone little suspected of conservatism—did not hesitate to compare the new regime to that of the dictatorship of the colonels: a leap which ignores the fact that Javier Milei succeeded in picking up a good portion of the Catholic electorate in order to hollow out a gap of more than ten points with his second-place rival.

It should be noted that this “anarcho-capitalist”—as he likes to define himself—makes one party of the traditional Argentinian political class uneasy: he advocates for the deregulation of the sale of firearms, refuses the doxa of man-made climate change, is a partisan of the adoption of the dollar to replace the peso and changes to organ donation regulations, and is opposed to the expansion of elective abortion.

This new strong-willed man of Argentina is an ultraliberal economist profoundly marked by the Austrian school of thought—Friedrich Hayek, notably—and that of Chicago, represented by the figures of Milton Friedman and Robert Lucas.

When he appears during his electoral parties, it is with a chainsaw in hand: a symbol which represents those who intend to disrupt the ways of the old “castes” in place in the apparatus of the State and in the economy.

Pro-life organizations welcomed Javier Milei’s rise to power, along with his running mate’s—a woman, Victoria Villaruel, who will now become vice president—both supporters of limitations to the “right to abortion.”

Invitation to Pope Francis to Come to Argentina

The new president spoke with Pope Francis, as La Nacion reported on November 21. The exchange between the two men—who had never spoken with each other before—lasted eight minutes. The president-elect invited the Pope to visit Argentina, where he would be received “as a head of state and as head of the Catholic Church.” The information revives the possibility of a papal visit to Argentina in 2024.

Milei explained to the Pope that he was aware that he must face “an important challenge to combat poverty and indigence.” The Pontiff congratulated him on his electoral victory and invited him to act with “wisdom and courage.” According to La Nacion, Javier Milei responded: “I don’t lack courage and as for wisdom, I’m working on it.”

The Argentinian newspaper explains that the personal friendship between someone close to Milei and the ophthalmologist Fabio Bartucci, who had operated on the Pope for a cataract, allowed the establishment of this direct contact between the two men.