Listening to the Pope, I couldn't stop thinking about how difficult it is to interpret his speech as if he were progressive, woke or leftist. How difficult it is for those who until yesterday wore green scarves and destroyed churches, but who now play last-minute Catholics!
Let's see.
The definition of Homeland, with which he practically begins his speech, is of an obvious Burkean matrix (“Each generation receives a homeland that others have placed in their hands. Then you must hand it in”). Indeed, Edmund Burke, the father of conservative thought, conceives it in his Reflections on the French Revolution as “an association between the living, the dead and those who have not yet been born”. This is precisely what Javier Milei mentions in his speech: the harmony was total
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On the other hand, the characterization of Argentine culture that the Pope then provides naturally leads to its Christian matrix: in the face of any secularizing reading of our history, it reminds us that our culture cannot be understood apart from worship. As T. S. Eliot taught, culture and religion constitute two aspects of the same historical reality. To destroy those foundations (the wet dream of progressivism) is to destroy the very roots of our cultural identity
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From culture, the Pope went on to a political register. He defended not only representative democracy, but also limited government. In this regard, let us recall one of the fundamental principles of the Church's Social Doctrine: the principle of subsidiarity, which opposes a paternalistic State that seeks to absorb the functions of individuals and of the intermediate bodies of
society.
Work, private initiative and autonomy vis-a-vis the State
In economic matters, the Pope defended a work ethic, which he recognized as a source of dignity, personal fulfillment and sustenance for families. It is easy to deduce from this that aid to those who need it most must be aimed at allowing them to fend for themselves again, and not at perpetuating their dependence, turning them into political clients in exchange for perks that end up destroying the culture of work. Nice stick against Kukism
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In addition, Leo XIV specifically referred to the need to stimulate private initiative, generate opportunities and promote economic growth.
Because the best social policy is not the one that multiplies the number of people dependent on the State, but the one that allows more and more people to “be able to live off their own work” (sic). The defense of the family and life The
same must be said of the Pope's defense of the institution of the family. Defined as the “basic cell of society”, Leo XIV vindicated an institution that, as he himself taught in his encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas”, finds its foundation in the stable union between a man and a woman. And this, and no other, is the sustainable model of family: the one that makes possible the continuity of generations. Beautiful stick for progress and their “deconstruction
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The climax came with abortion. The Pope spoke of those who have not yet been born, vindicated their human dignity and recalled that our responsibility to future generations begins with “accepting life from its earliest moments and safeguarding it until its natural end”. Let's remember that the abortion genocide was legalized by Kirchnerism during the pandemic, in January 2021. Hundreds of thousands of unborn Argentines have been legally murdered in their mothers' wombs ever since
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An ecology that does not confront man with progress Even when the
Pope spoke of issues that might appeal to progressives, such as the ecological one, he did so from a conservative perspective. He didn't present nature as something untouchable, he didn't come up with “anti-speciesist” stories or condemn the exploitation of natural resources. On the contrary, he highlighted the enormous development possibilities offered by Argentina's fields, water, energy and minerals. But he recalled that this use must be responsible, be at the service of people and preserve the living conditions of future generations. In other words, a human ecology that does not confront man with nature, but seeks to harmonize its conservation with the progress of society. Such a disappointment for the local Greta Thunbergs
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To top it all off, at the close of his speech, the Pope reaffirmed the Catholic Church's commitment to Argentine society, recalling its educational, welfare and evangelizing work. And he expressly vindicated Christ's command: “Go and announce”. A reminder for the orange scarves that sought to privatize faith, confining it to the four walls of temples and expelling it from public
life.
In short, it was a speech with great political content, although not partisan. Throughout the previous one, progressives and left-handed people were looking forward to a speech full of criticism against Milei, which they could exploit for their petty political ends. That was definitely not the case.
