It is not official. There are no dates or agenda, but the idea that Pope Francis visits his native country in 2024 is taking shape. A decade after being elected, the Pontiff has visited the main countries of Latin America except his own, which during these years It has generated discomfort among the Catholic faithful and numerous speculations in the always convulsive politics of Argentina.
This Thursday, Francisco again referred by surprise to the expected trip during an act in the Vatican. “My idea is next year, let’s see if it can be done,” said the Pope, when asked about it by the presenter of an act of the Scholas Ocurrentes community, a Christian educational movement founded in Argentina by people very close to the Holy Father.
During the ceremony, held at the Augustinianum Patristic Institute in Rome, the Pope held a videoconference with members of Scholas Ocurrentes from Barrio 31, the most central shanty town in Buenos Aires, where the Catholic Church has great influence and which has been subjected to years of urbanization process to turn it into one more neighborhood of the city.
After many rumors and frustrated official announcements, the long-awaited trip of Francisco to Argentina next year began to glimpse last April when the Pontiff himself dropped that possibility during an interview with the Buenos Aires newspaper La Nación.
Despite the political and economic uncertainty that Argentina is experiencing, 2024 is ideal for a papal visit, taking into account that the presidential elections next October will have already been held and a new president will have arrived at the Casa Rosada in December.
However, taking into account what has happened in this decade of disagreements, Francisco’s decision could perhaps be reconsidered depending on who occupies the presidency.
It is probably no coincidence that the Pope’s reference to his return to his country occurred this Thursday, when the Argentine May Revolution is celebrated, on independence day.
