Just a few minutes before the papal Mass was about to get underway in St Peter’s Basilica this past Sunday, there was some commotion near the large platform and white chair from which Pope Francis normally presides.
But it wasn’t Francis’ entrance that created the buzz. It was the arrival of Javier Milei, the recently elected president of the pope’s native Argentina.
He came to Rome for the canonisation of Argentina’s first woman saint – Maria Antonia de Paz y Figuerora (1730-1799), better known in her South American country as “Mama Antula”.
Milei could be seen taking numerous selfies with some of the 500 Argentinians who also came for the historic ceremony.
Although the pope and the president greeted each other warmly immediately after the Mass, their real meeting was to take place the following morning, Feb 12.
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