When Francisco does not have personal meetings with Argentines, he takes care of reading and answering emails, via his personal secretary. He daily reads local news and reports from the Vatican Secretary of State. He also approaches Argentina by telephone: To find out what is happening, he calls members of the Argentine clergy, from his confessor in Buenos Aires to relatives, and from human rights leaders to trade unionists. The Vicar of Christ is united to Argentina and that love has not been extinguished by distance or by press operations against him. Numerous actions -sometimes public, others more surreptitious- connect him with the mother country for which he cries out to her patron saint, the Virgin of Luján, who accompanies him with her image in the audience hall of the Apostolic Palace.
A few days ago, more precisely on Tuesday, April 26, Francis received for the first time at his home, the Santa Marta Vatican community residence, Felipe Beliz. The third of the four sons and daughters of the Secretary for Strategic Affairs arrived as coordinator of the political training school “New Leaders”which depends institutionally on Monsignor Jorge Lugonescurrent head of National Social Pastoral (CEPAS) and Jesuit bishop in the Buenos Aires diocese of Lomas de Zamora. The photo of Felipe Béliz with the Pope circulated on WhatsApp among young leaders between the ages of 18 and 35, most of them union members. Among the messages, it was learned that the coordinator returned from Rome with signed souvenirs in the bag and a folder of the diploma “thought and political leadership” with the stamp of Bergoglio.
The political school led by Béliz aims to “build a new narrative and political praxis that contributes a qualitative change in the public discussion” and was launched in May 2021. The diploma lasts one year and is developed in three modules: “Situated thinking”; “political polyhedron”; and “Transformation Tools”. In addition, the course mixes theory and practice, with classes twice a week and work in the territory. Learning includes brainstorming sessions with bishops, politicians, social and business leaders once a month.
The “New Leaders” seal was created in 2006 when the then president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEA) was Cardinal Bergoglio from Buenos Aires. “We always accompany the meetings that Pastoral Social carries out at the national level, in order to channel youth on the path of social dialogue”, swears on the official site. The last meeting of the academy behind closed doors was at the House of Spiritual Exercises of Mama Antula, located on Avenida Independencia and Salta, in the heart of the Constitución neighborhood.
The “New Leaders” school under the tutelage of Béliz was introduced to public life in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata. “Thinking about a country project” was the reflection of the panel that Felipe shared in 2019, with the young labor lawyer, Hugo “Huguito” Moyanowho participated in the launch as a special guest.
The executive secretary of the CEPAS school is not just any young person. Felipe is one of his father’s most trusted persons, who in turn is one of the closest officials to the President of the Nation. On the other hand, he is linked to the Church on the periphery, through the work of his mother, Maria Florence Meritelloa member of the Hogares de Cristo National Federation, the device of the Vicariate of Priests in de las Villas, which opened its doors in 2008, also thanks to the work and commitment of former Cardinal Bergoglio. In the Federation they deal, among other things, with helping the recovery of people with addictions.
Felipe learned politics as a boy. His father was Minister of Justice and Security of the president Nestor Kirchner and then spent about 15 years outside of Argentina, working at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In fact, the family lived for a long time in the United States. With the arrival of Alberto Fernandez to the Casa Rosada, Gustavo assumed the position of Secretary of Strategic Affairs and was appointed President of the Economic and Social Council. Felipe is the shadow of his father and a connoisseur of the Vatican. There he worked for a semester ad honorem as a translator for the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Social Sciences, under the command of Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo. Felipe was personally invited by Sánchez Sorondo, one of the few historic Argentines from the Roman Curia, who is currently out for having completed his years in office.
The Pope’s relationship with the Belizes has grown stronger in recent times. In less than a month, Francisco not only received Felipe, but also Gustavo. In fact, the strategic secretary returned from the Holy See a few weeks earlier. The difference is that in the suitcase he returned with various messages to distribute: one of them was a high-flying political papal gesture written in his own hand to an important union leader.
There is no doubt that these meetings have implications for the interior of the ruling coalition, the Frente de Todos. Despite the departure of Sánchez Sorondo from the Academy of Sciences, the monsignor managed to add to that pontifical school Béliz father and the Minister of Economy, Martin Guzmanin what was interpreted as a forceful gesture of the Supreme Pontiff to Argentina, in the process of negotiating with international financial creditors. Luckily – or by design – that agreement has already been closed.
The other national official who plays in tandem with Béliz and Sánchez Sorondo is Gustavo Vera, who established a relationship with Bergoglio from the NGO La Alameda. Vera also has bridges with the Frente de Todos: The former legislator is head of the Trafficking Committee, which reports to the Headquarters of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Nation, an organization that was previously in the hands of Santiago Cafiero. In fact, weeks ago Gustavo Beliz organized a lunch at Government House with Vera to receive a delegation of Italians from the Libera anti-mafia organization, sister of La Alameda. At the meal were its founder and president, the priest Luigi Ciotti, and several judicial officials who want to replicate in Argentina the practice of confiscating the assets of organized crime for social reuse. During the conversation, comparative regulations and exemplary cases were discussed. News is expected very soon.
“Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” It is a quote from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, chapter 6, verse 3. Inspired by this motto, the Pope does not lose contact with opponents of the Catholic Faith either. That is why -in parallel- he endorsed the appointment of Juan Ignacio Macqueyra in another Catholic school for political training: the young man from the Pampas and former official of the head of the Buenos Aires Government, Horacio Rodriguez Larretais today the president of “Fratelli Tutti” (brothers all), another institution baptized as the last papal encyclical, which was born from the confluence of the pontifical foundation “Scholas Occurring”in charge of Jose Maria Del Corral Y Enrique Palmeyroand the Foundation “Lead with Common Sense”from Anthony Alonea Spanish right-wing political consultant in Europe.
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“When the national and popular field is divided by internism, as is happening at the moment, the approach of the leaders and the militancy to the Social Pastoral grows”, explained a layman in direct dialogue with Bishop Lugones, knowledgeable about Vatican politics and very close to Gustavo Béliz. What there is no doubt about -as he added anonymously- is that the Argentine and Jesuit pope is the leader of the multiple tendencies that proclaim social justice and reject liberalism.
Source: Ambito
