RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Pope Francis would be “delighted” to welcome ex-President Lula to the Vatican, said the Argentinean President Alberto Fernández, after a meeting on Friday, January 31st, with the Pontiff in which he conveyed Lula’s request. But as he draws the Pope closer to Lula, the Argentinean President automatically distances himself from Jair Bolsonaro.
“Lula asked me to see the Pope. And I asked (the Pope) if he could see Lula. And he (the Pope) told me that ‘of course’ and that (Lula) should write to him because he (the Pope) will gladly welcome him,” the Argentinean president disclosed after meeting on Friday with the Pope at the Vatican.
Fernández further told journalists that the subject of Lula’s visit to the Vatican came up when the two, Alberto Fernández and Pope Francis, discussed “Lawfare,” a term used to define a judicial war to intervene in politics and to destroy opponents.
Alberto Fernandez’s intervention to have the Pope meet Lula reflects a wish of the ex-president, who was released last November after 19 months in prison.
Fernández, a bridge between Lula’s cause and the Pope
In August 2018, when Lula was completing four months in prison, Alberto Fernández had already asked that the Pope greet him along with Lula’s former chancellor, Celso Amorim, and a former Chilean senator, Carlos Ominami.
The purpose of that meeting, held at the Pontiff’s residence, Casa Santa Marta, was to further enhance Lula’s struggle for freedom. On that occasion, Pope Francis wrote a message to Lula in which he blessed him.
“To Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with my blessing, asking you to pray for me, Francis,” said the message written on the title page of a book. The Pope had received a copy of Lula’s book in Italian, “Truth Will Prevail”.
At that time Alberto Fernández was far from any political office, but he knew the Pope from the time when he had been head of the cabinet of the Kirchner government. The then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio, even shared the same dentist with Fernández.
A Pope who thinks like us, says Lula
In May last year, Pope Francis sent a letter to Lula in prison, asking the former president not to be discouraged or cease to trust in God. “Good will overcome evil, truth will overcome lying, and Salvation will overcome condemnation,” the Pope said, recalling the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Pope’s letter was a reply to a letter from Lula in which the ex-president thanked the people of Brazil for “their support for justice and the rights of the most impoverished,” and asked for the Pope’s support and friendship.
Last week, in an interview with the Argentine newspaper ‘Página 12’, Lula paid several compliments to the Pope. “He is a Pope committed to impoverished people, to fighting hunger, unemployment, violence, crimes against women and black people. In other words: he is everything we want from a Pope. He is a Pope who thinks like us,” Lula emphasized.
Automatic distance from Bolsonaro
In bringing the Pope closer to Lula, Alberto Fernández is automatically distancing himself from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Lula’s enemy.
Fernández’s personal direction for a meeting between the Pope and Lula comes at a time when Argentine diplomacy is trying to tailor a meeting between Fernández and Bolsonaro after the two exchanged barbs during the last few months, jeopardizing the bilateral relationship, the axis of regional integration.
On January 16th, President Jair Bolsonaro said that the United States’ decision to prioritize Brazil – and no longer Argentina – to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was related to the Argentineans’ decision to “elect those who put them in the disgraceful situation in which they found themselves,” alluding to the return to power of the Kirchnerism of Vice-President Cristina Kirchner, who governed the country between 2007 and 2015.
The atmosphere between the two leaders was clouded after Alberto Fernández, during the election campaign, visited Lula in prison and later called for his release during his victory speech.
That speech prompted Bolsonaro to refuse to congratulate Fernandez on his victory and to fail to attend his inauguration. On that occasion, Bolsonaro said that the Argentineans had “chosen poorly”.