When Pope Francis first met with the newly elected president of his native Argentina in February, the Buenos Aires Herald termed their 22 minutes together as "frosty." Relations don't seem to have improved much since, with the Guardian reporting that a donation President Mauricio Macri made to an educational foundation promoted by the pope—an organization featuring ambassadors like George Clooney, Salma Hayek, and Richard Gere —was turned down, with a fairly icy postscript. Macri earlier this month donated 16,666,000 pesos, or nearly $1.2 million, to Scholas Occurentes; Francis reportedly instructed the charity's branch in Argentina to give it back, with the Guardian reporting that the pope was perturbed at the donation being painted by the media as proof of warming relations between the two....
Dr. Alan Cairns | 8/3/2009
