Following her meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez arrived in New York, where she is expected to deliver a speech at the UN’s 69th General Assembly on Wednesday.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez left on Thursday evening for Rome where on Saturday she is scheduled to have lunch with Pope Francis in a meeting that according to Vatican sources has no formal timetable.
Pope Francis is concerned about the political situation and governance in his native Argentina, the Vatican's chief of ceremonies said Tuesday ahead of a visit by President Cristina Fernandez on Saturday.
Diego Maradona and Roberto Baggio were among a host of former soccer stars who played in an interreligious charity match backed by Pope Francis on Monday night. The Argentine pope, an avid soccer fan, did not attend the match but had an audience with both teams earlier in the day and also broadcast a message on the big screens at Rome's Olympic Stadium ahead of kickoff.
Speaking with Argentina TV stations, Vatican Chief of Ceremonial, Guillermo Karcher played down the threats against Francis saying that “the Pope is not giving substance” to the reports. He explained that the Vatican security measures have not been increased since there has been “no official” threat.
Soccer took center stage at the Vatican Wednesday morning when members of Argentina's San Lorenzo visited their most famous fan, Pope Francis, to share the joy of winning the Copa Libertadores last week.
Three relatives of Pope Francis, including two young children, died on Tuesday when their car slammed into the back of a truck in Argentina. The Pope's nephew, Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio, who was driving the car, was in a serious condition after the accident, officials said.
Pope Francis ended his first official visit to Asia on Monday with a fresh overture to China and a call for reconciliation between South Korea and its totalitarian neighbor, North Korea. As the pope flew across Chinese airspace on his return flight to Rome, he sent a telegram — his second during the trip — to President Xi Jinping, expressing his “divine blessings” for the powerful leader and the Chinese people.
An 'honesty' ranking by Argentine pollster, Giacobbe & Associates, based on 500 names, both alive and deceased, shows the country's public opinion poor belief in the political system, with president Cristina Fernández ranked 38, fourteen positions down from a similar poll last year and behind her Uruguayan peer Jose Mujica ranked 11.
On the 20th anniversary of the AMIA Jewish community center bombing, the Argentine pontiff sent a message for “justice” to Argentina’s Israeli community and relatives of the 85 victims that resulted dead in the attack.