New head of Catholic Church in Argentina voices poverty concerns

The new head of the Catholic Synod in Argentina, Monsignor Marcelo Colombo, has voiced concern about the social consequences of President Javier Milei’s government plans and their impact on poverty, which rose 11 percentage points in the first half of the year to reach 52.9 percent.

In Argentina "there are many people outside [the economic system] and we notice that in the soup kitchens," said Colombo, who was named last Tuesday to head the Argentine Synod, the same post held by Jorge Bergoglio before becoming Pope 2013.

The former archbishop of Mendoza stated that his message to President Milei would be "an invitation to dialogue with everybody to generate that necessary empathy with the poorest."

In an interview with Radio Mitre Mendoza on Thursday, the 63-year-old cleric said: "The economy is at the service of mankind and now there is a heavy bet on ordering the economy to see how the money is spent and to prioritise spending. But the important thing is that the economy be reformed with the people inside and not outside."

Colombo admitted that the Church is "deeply worried" about increased poverty. He gave the example of a church night shelter which habitually received 50 people "and now over 200."

Milei’s austerity plan since taking office almost a year ago has yielded fruit in terms of controlling inflation and balancing the budget but caused a deep economic recession with thousands fired and a rampant increase in poverty to numbers unprecedented in recent decades. 

Colombo succeeds Monsignor Oscar Ojea, who in his public sermons pronounced himself on various occasions against the government’s "loss of sensitivity" towards the neediest in delaying for months the distribution of food to soup kitchens while they were submitted to audits.

He also reproached the President for insulting the Pope, whom Milei described as the "representative of the Evil One," among other barbs for which he later apologised to the pontiff.

Catholicism remains Argentina’s majority religión with around 63 percent of the population identifying as such, according to university studies.

– TIMES/AFP