Dead Benedict XVI: complications and vicissitudes in his relationship with Argentina

It was not an intense relationship, full of milestones, like the one your predecessor, John Paul II had. It is enough to recall his mediation with Chile on the Beagle conflict, which began shortly after his election, or his historic journey in the midst of the Malvinas war. But neither was it a harmless bond that Benedict XVI, who died today at the age of 95, had with Argentina.

After all, it was an Argentine, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who ─after an unprecedented performance for a Latin American─ cast his 40 votes to Joseph Ratzinger, making his rapid election possible. The same Bergoglio who, years later, would become his successor.

And it was also an Argentine, the former president Néstor Kirchner, who caused Ratzinger one of his first headaches during his pontificate, unilaterally removing the controversial Antonio Baseotto as military bishop, starting one of the most complicated relations in recent decades between the Holy See and the Casa Rosada.

In truth, the contrasts with the pontificate of John Paul II marked the course of Joseph Ratzinger’s pontificate with Argentina. If the preponderant figure of the Polish pope hid the bad relations between the second lines of the Roman curia and the leaders of the Argentine Church, the unenthusiastic personality of Benedict XVI was not an obstacle for him to face a restructuring of the Roman curia which significantly improved the connection.

The departure – above all – from the Secretariat of State of the powerful Cardinal Angelo Sodano – a political partner of menhemism and affection for the more conservative vulgar sectors – has allowed the recomposition of the relationship with an Episcopate which, after a generational change and a healthy distance from the heat of power in service, has become mostly moderate.

Until Benedict XVI completed the changes, there were some sparks due to the designation for some Argentine dioceses of conservative bishops who did not respond to the preferences of the local ecclesiastical leadership. But the Episcopate, faithful to its historic subordination to Rome, has never taken on rebellious attitudes.

Not even before Ratzinger’s ultra-controversial decisions such as liberalization in Latin. Instead, we wanted to highlight the wealth of content of the Pope’s encyclicals or his decisive way of dealing with cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by priests. At the same time, to the joy of the country’s Church, the list of Argentines declared blessed was growing. The most famous: Cerferino Namuncura.

Meanwhile, differences with the government have multiplied and deepened. Since the Vatican kept Baseotto in office for two years, until he reached retirement age, the Casa Rosada delayed the presidential agreement for the appointment of his successor. And it has given rise to the ghost of the dissolution of the military diocese.

When the link seemed restored with the hiring of Cristina Fernández, the Vatican’s refusal to grant approval to Alberto Iribarne as ambassador, due to his status as a separate Catholic in a new union, provoked an angry reaction from Buenos Aires. It is useless for Rome to clarify that it was a difficulty for all countries: the Government has left the embassy in the hands of the company manager.

Other complications will add: the fact that the Vatican, in creating the diocese of Tierra del Fuego, has not included the Malvinas Islands, has provoked another protest from the Casa Rosada. And a new retaliation: the delay in the recognition of the new ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Incidentally, he didn’t even acknowledge the creation of another minor hierarchy, communicated at that time: the prelature of Esquel.

Yet Buenos Aires was banking on a big Vatican celebration in the south for 30 years of papal mediation with Chile on the Beagle. Roma, however, has not come out of its discomfort due to so many disagreements.