The migration crisis and the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine marked the meeting between Pedro Sánchez and the Pope at the Vatican. The Holy Father, said the President of the Government, was very interested in the migration issue, which is why he was invited to the Canary Islands to know first-hand the situation in the islands.
Sánchez appeared in the gardens of the Spanish Academy in Rome, on the Janiculum Hill, where he moved after a 35-minute meeting with the Pope. The President of the Government arrived at the Vatican around 9 a.m., accompanied by the ambassador to the Holy See, Isabel Celaá. On this occasion, his wife, Begoña Gómez, did not accompany him, as she did during the previous visit in October 2020.
The closed-door meeting with the Pontiff lasted a little longer than usual, 35 minutes. Then, the Pope greeted the delegation which accompanied the president for five minutes and gave them some symbolic objects. At 9:40 a.m. he left the library.
Gift exchange
It is said that the Vatican usually sends messages through the Pope’s gifts during these meetings. In this case it was a terracotta with the title “Tenderness and love”accompanied by his message for World Peace Day 2024, “Artificial Intelligence and Peace”.
The President of the Government gave him a collection of coins from the National Mint and Stamp Factory, on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso. One of the pieces reproduces a bullfight.
In addition to his meeting with the Pope, Sánchez had a meeting with the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, and with the Vatican Foreign Minister, Paul Richard Gallagher. Also this Friday, Pope Francis met with Volodimir Zelensky, whom Sánchez met in the corridors of the Apostolic Palace.
With Parolin, he addressed the development of the Democratic Memory Law and the resignification of the Cuelgamuros Valley. In this sense, Sánchez showed his “absolute predisposition to reach an agreement” with the Church.
Tension during the last meeting
Four years have passed since Pedro Sánchez’s last visit to the Pope. Their last meeting took place on October 24, 2020and was marked by a strong speech from the Pontiff in front of the cameras. His comments were seen as an attempt by the Vatican to ensure the meeting was not exploited.
That day, so that the terms of their closed-door conversation were clear. Francis then spoke of the risk of nationalism and ideologies drifting in the midst of an economic crisis. This was unusual, because the pope had never given a speech in an audience with heads of state and government, and in fact, he never did so again on any occasion.
In his 8-minute speech, Francisco recognized the difficulty of governing a country and taking care of economic development and infrastructure, but that it is even more complex and important to take care of “consolidating the nation, not only taking care of the border, but also of the nation as organisms.” of laws, ways of proceeding.
The main difficulty is “the game of ideologies” which sectarianize, deconstruct the homeland, and not build it. » “It is very sad when ideologies take over the interpretation of a nation, a country and disfigure the homeland,” he then added.
