Alberto Benegas Lynch, during the closing of Javier Milei’s campaign in Buenos Aires, October 19, 2023.MATIAS BAGLIETTO (Portal)
Economist Alberto Benegas Lynch, 83, walked across the stage in a black suit and tie and stood behind the lectern. From there, the ideological reference of the Ultra Javier Milei, his “hero” as the candidate calls him, began his speech. “What I am about to say next does not affect the position of Javier Milei,” he warned, before suggesting that Argentina “should suspend diplomatic relations with the Vatican while…” The silent audience erupted in euphoric cries of “Freedom!”, interrupting him. “…While the totalitarian spirit reigns in the mind,” concluded Benegas Lynch.
“Out of consideration for my Catholic religion and out of respect, I think we should emulate what the president did [Julio Argentino] Rock: Break diplomatic relations with the Vatican as long as the totalitarian spirit prevails in the mind,” said Benegas Lynch, a member of a family with a long conservative and liberal tradition in Argentina, at the closing ceremony of the election campaign of the far-right La Libertad party. Keep it up. It was not the first time he suggested this, as he himself indicated, alluding to a column he published in the digital newspaper Infobae in which he wrote that the Church is “currently” “concealing traditional values “ use, but “ works in the opposite direction.”
The Argentine media reported on the ultra-liberal’s statements against Pope Francis and the church reacted. “I was shocked and surprised, at a time when we are trying to demand a united Argentina,” Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva said four days before the Oct. 22 presidential election. “You must have your own, private religion,” the priest suggested in a radio interview reported by the Télam news agency, adding: “For Catholics, the figure of the Holy Father is – beyond whoever he is, because we are of it convinced that this is where the Holy Spirit intervenes – he is our shepherd, our universal reference point.”
Although Benegas Lynch distanced Milei from his statements this time, Pope Francis was attacked by the candidate on several occasions. The Ultra described the Pope as an “idiot,” a “disgusting left-hander,” and a “representative of evil on earth” because, as he said, he promoted “communism.” One of the most recent attacks came during an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, in which he said that the pope had “an affinity for murderous communists.” “It doesn’t condemn them and is also quite condescending towards the Venezuelan dictatorship,” he said.
The first to defend him in the country were the priests of the popular neighborhoods, who organized a large mass in September in front of hundreds of believers. “The whole church rises to tell the Pope that it loves him,” about twenty priests preached from the stage. In the first presidential debate on October 1, Peronist Sergio Massa called on Milei to apologize to the Pope, the “most important Argentine in history,” as he defended. The La Libertad Avanza candidate responded that his statements were made when he “was not yet in politics” and assured that he had asked for forgiveness. “If I’m wrong, I have no problem repeating that I’m sorry,” he said.
Days before Benegas Lynch attended Milei’s campaign closing ceremony, the pope gave an interview to the Télam news agency in which he denied being a “communist” and warned against “the Pied Pipers of Hamelin” because “they are very charming.” “If they were snakes, I would leave them behind, but they are conjurers of people and drown them in the end.” “People who believe that they will come out of the crisis dancing to the sound of flutes with saviors created overnight,” he said, without that It is worth mentioning the ultra-candidate who is the favorite in the polls in the first round of the presidential election.