Pope Francis is losing his home country's support, according to a new poll from the Argentine newspaper Clarín, reports the
New York Post.
Formerly known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the pope was considered the most popular and trustworthy person in Argentina when he was elected pontiff. Now he's fallen to ninth.
Three-quarters of Argentines have a positive opinion of Francis, down from 90 percent two years ago, according to Clarín's poll. The pope has also fallen from the nation's most-trusted public figure to ninth.
Francis's stature has fallen in his native country, where the center-right President Mauricio Macri recently took office, despite broad international support for the pontiff's progressive teachings. The Post said much of the change in attitudes toward Francis stem from a frosty relationship the nation's new leader. But the pope has complimented Macri.
"I have no problem with President Macri. He seems to me a good family person, a noble person,” Francis recently told Argentina's
La Nación newspaper.
However, the Post reports that Francis only invited Macri to the Vatican once for a brief visit, and appeared visibly unhappy as it concluded.
By contrast, Francis enjoyed a close relationship with Macri's predecessor, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a liberal who was voted out of office last year and indicted in May for manipulating the Central Bank of Argentina at the end of her term, according to The
New York Times.
Francis also welcomed Hebe de Bonafini, the leader of Mother of the Plaze de Mayo, who was previously one of the Catholic Church's biggest critics. Bonafini, a human rights activist, is well known for her anti-American rhetoric, particularly for saying that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, "I felt happiness. I'm not going to be a hypocrite. It didn't hurt me at all," according to the
Wall Street Journal.
Argentine journalists like Jorge Fernandez Diaz, according to the
Miami Herald, attribute the pope's falling favorability to his support of these left-wing figures.
"This is very disappointing to many Argentines," when the pope's charity refused a donation from Macri's government, the Herald reported, citing Diaz. He also noted that some of the president's opponents hope Francis will become Argentina's "opposition leader," but the pope has avoided openly opposing Macri.
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