A new political scenario: What if the Argentine Church “causes trouble”?
“More than once, I've seen from my window people searching through the trash, sorting, hauling, and caring for our planet because they make recycling possible. But I was struck by one person I saw early in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night I'd come back and see them working,” Archbishop Víctor Manuel “Tucho” Fernández remarked at the Te Deum on May 25th of last year at the Cathedral of the City of La Plata.
But he didn't stop there, adding: "Despite that, some well-dressed parasite shows up and sends them to work: 'Go work, lazy people.' Some shameless person who lives off his income, lives off politics, lives off his family, lives off an inheritance, but does nothing. And he refers to the cartoneros (cartoneros) saying, 'Why don't you go work?' How far does the cultural degradation of our society go? There are people who repeat these damning and ideological judgments without the slightest respect for the suffering and dignity of others," he concluded.
Almost a year has passed, and Fernández's message has once again taken flight in the face of a torrent of insults raining down from government supporters on those burdened by the martyrdom of being social outcasts. Many have taken note of the libertarian politicians and their allies, who call homeless people "cracks," a term used for the streets that refers to people who suffer from some kind of addiction and commit crimes while under the influence of drugs of some kind, and which would not be applicable at all to a family that has nowhere to live.
Archbishop Fernández's video circulated on social media and in political debates, with many pointing it out, emphasizing: "With this Church, yes." Much of this, of course, was due to the death of Pope Francis and the reexamination of his legacy , which has been a major part of the political debate these days and has had various interpretations, ranging from the feigned and unsubstantiated somersault of President Milei himself, who went from the gravest insult to tears and forgiveness in front of Francis. But it also included those who reviewed the pastoral preaching of the last leader of the Catholic Church, who knew how to reach out to those outside of it and also to those who do not preach their faith, because his message had an element of social healing as strong as, or stronger than, its spirituality.
In a few days, the conclave will be held at the Holy See to elect a new pope, and the Catholic Church is debating his doctrinal future. According to José María Poirer, director of Criterio magazine, "it will be a fairly brief conclave because the prevailing idea among the cardinals is not to transmit a deep division within the Church." For that to be possible, one sector will have to give way, and in that sense, the most conservative ones are at a disadvantage. Francis will possibly score a victory with his successor, whom some hope will deepen the change he himself initiated within Catholicism . In short, those who believe that the "market" solves everything, without considering the fallen left in its wake and imposing social rules devoid of interpretations and care for social, racial, cultural, and even sexual minorities, may find a tough opponent in the Church. Many, without making it public, think of Donald Trump and his imitators when naming those they see as the rival to defeat. After consulting several ecclesiastical leaders, this is the future role they envision for the global Church.
But this debate, in an unorganized and unsettled way, also comes as a challenge to the Argentine Church, where there are many "Tucho" Fernándezes, who use these ideas and themes in their homilies, which are replicated throughout the country. Poirer recalls that "Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, before becoming Pope, knew that the Church was in a deep crisis and had become refractory to young people; he was aware of that." Francis understood that it was necessary for the ecclesiastical institution to also take on the role of spokesperson for worldly problems. He did so with a message to the world from his position in the Vatican, generating controversy, and also rejection, among the most conservative sectors, but also awakening from their lethargy thousands of consecrated men who felt the challenge and the need to "get their hands dirty" to be with those who suffer the most.
His country, Argentina, was not exempt from that message, and it was well interpreted, for example, by the four bishops who participated in the election of the new Pope: Mario Aurelio Poli, Víctor "Tucho" Fernández, Vicente Bokalic Iglic, and Ángel Sixto Rossi. In addition to the bishops appointed by Francis, who come from the "slum priests" sector, such as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, José García Cuerva, and Gustavo Carrara, with prior social work carried out in the slums of La Cava, in San Isidro, and 1.11.14 in the Flores neighborhood, among others. Their social background makes them full recipients of Francis's message , and this can turn them into spokespeople for the most needy.
This hypothetical scenario could be problematic for politics, and especially for the government, which currently has the advantage of dealing with worn-out and discredited organizations that are the institutional interlocutors of workers and the most vulnerable sectors, such as unions and social organizations. Milei may call them "unionists" or "ridiculous leftists," because the negative image of these sectors is so high that it allows misplaced insults that disrespect the President's very institutional authority to be tolerated by a large part of society. Those who share almost nothing with the CGT (Central Confederation of Workers' Unions), the Evita Movement, the Polo Obrero (Workers' Pole), or Barrios de Pie (Barrio de Pie), to name a few, are not spared either. For them, too, there is mistreatment: they are the "republican nerds," as if being so were a discredit or a mistake, when all men and women who operate in a democratic system should, almost by obligation, be, at the very least, that: republicans.
The question that remains is: what would happen if the Church were to interpret social demands and act as an institutional channel between the people and politics? How would the government respond to criticism from men of faith? Priests who will try to give the Catholic Church a leading role in Argentine political dialogue, something they lost long ago, also due to their own mistakes. But, unlike unionists, they have the chance to enter the fray with a certain credibility that others lack. We would be facing a novel, yet interesting, scenario, because we're accustomed to expecting little or nothing in terms of changes in local politics.
The Church has already begun to take giant steps in the face of new cultures and social and individual behaviors. Francis's perspective, which is well interpreted by the Church that inherits his legacy, on homosexuality, divorce, and the new cultural mandates, is positive in paving the way, but they would obviously have their limitations. No one in their right mind would ask the Church to support abortion. But everything else could be useful for that modernizing change that would transform the Argentine Church into a relevant political actor, capable of challenging harsh economic policies and resisting the authoritarian, insulting discourse that Javier Milei himself identifies with and embodies.
The future challenges us in the worst possible way. It is estimated that the global labor market will create 170 million new jobs and displace 92 million jobs by 2030 alone, according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Future of Jobs 2025 Report. Artificial intelligence makes us believe that we don't know what jobs will be needed in 20 years and that millions of young people studying for professional degrees today will graduate to pursue professions that won't be needed in 25 years. Leaving everything in the hands of the market could be criminal; a social and inclusive perspective will be needed more than ever, because the future could be unlivable for our children.
Next week, the Church will have its debate. What happens in the Sistine Chapel could be a preview of what could happen here if those willing to emulate the Pope remember that he is the same one who asked them to "make a mess" of young people to protect themselves from a future that didn't include all of them.
This may be the great novelty of Argentine politics, and many of us who do not profess any religion understand that the Catholic Church should not be part of the state but rather a new, defined social actor. What is coming is so unpredictable and worrying that representative voices and channels will be necessary to deal with a power that seems oblivious to a social reality that has been causing so much damage for decades. So much so that today it seems irreparable.
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