Pope Francis Meets with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (photo Lapresse)
The Meloni-Pope Francis strategic axis
Relations between Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis had begun under the banner of caution and substantial distrust. Reading the biography of the premier, “I am Giorgia”, released in May 2021, one can learn how Meloni was linked much more to the figures of Pope Wojtyla and Pope Ratzinger compared to that of Pope Bergoglio. And it was normal. The Polish Pope had been the Pope of his adolescence and the one who had contributed in no small way to the defeat of Soviet communism, while Benedict was a conservative Pope.
Bergoglio seemed more elusive to her and furthest from her ideals. In fact, the Argentine Pope is of Peronist origin and Peronism is a political current that does not allow an immediate classification in the usual right / left terms. This origin has greatly deceived even the left who thought they were dealing with a progressive Pope when this is not the case.
Giorgia Meloni-Pope Francis axis: migrants, Ukrainian war, birth rate and …
Francis is precisely a Peronist and the movement founded by Juan Domingo Peron possesses all the characteristics of social action. Pope Bergoglio is a conservative in disguise. But the prime minister had to take time to reach this conclusion and only at the beginning of this year, after the first meeting in the Vatican, did the situation change. Meloni brought out Bergoglio’s true nature and the two have been in love and getting along ever since. The first theme that saw a concordance of intent was that of migrants. The Pope was clear: this is above all a problem of the Union and not just of Italy. An unexpected help that put Ursula von der Leyen in crisis but above all relations with Macron and Catholic France.
The Ukrainian war was another theme of concurrence which has developed over time. The choice of the prime minister to take sides with no ifs, ands or buts alongside Kiev and against Moscow, in a fully Atlantic perspective, has even driven Bergoglio’s initial hesitation to the point of bringing him closer, albeit in the declared “neutrality”, to a Western position. Then it was the turn of the theme of the birth rate with Meloni and Pope Francis guests at the forum organized at the States General organized at the Auditorium in via della Conciliazione and we are at the current news.
Migrants and birth rates are two strategic axes of relations between Palazzo Chigi and the Vatican. In the meantime, however, there have been clear signs of collaboration and agreement. A very recent one, which dates only yesterday, is the amendment that the group of Brothers of Italy in the Senate asked for the time available for the bicameral commission to investigate to be limited to just two years, compared to the initial four foreseen on the case of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old teenager, a Vatican citizen, who mysteriously disappeared in June 1983. We dealt with it here. We recall that Pope John Paul II was also involved in the affair due to the declarations of his brother Pietro Orlandi. The rapid support that FdI wanted to provide to the Vatican by halving the time available to the commission to complete the investigations has not been overlooked.
Then it must be considered that i personal relationships between Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis are excellent. Just look at yesterday’s images with the premier joking affectionately with the Pope. Premier, moreover, dressed completely in white violating strict Vatican protocol that allows women to wear that color only if they are wives of Catholic kings.
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