Argentine president-elect expected to mend relationship with church

Published: 2007-11-16

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNS) -- In a conciliatory gesture toward the church, Argentine President-elect Cristina Fernandez received the Vatican secretary of state alongside her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, in Buenos Aires. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone met with the presidential couple Nov. 14 at the end of his trip to Argentina to preside over the first beatification of an Argentine Mapuche Indian, Ceferino Namuncura, in the Patagonian community of Chimpay. After the meeting, Cardinal Bertone said he hoped Fernandez, who was elected Oct. 28 with 45 percent of the votes, would be able to "take the country out of purgatory and elevate it to paradise." "The president always says he took his people out of hell and into purgatory. I hope that the future president will be able to take the country even higher, with everyone's collaboration," said the cardinal, referring to Kirchner's well-known claim of having rescued Argentina after the catastrophic economic crisis in 2001. Fernandez, who will be sworn in Dec. 10 for a four-year term, has signaled she will attempt to mend government-church relations, which deteriorated dramatically during her husband's administration.

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