Pope Francis’s reconciliation with Milei not a first

Some verbal attacks are so vicious that it seems like there’s no return from them. And Argentina’s firebrand libertarian president, Javier Milei — who rose to fame by angrily taking on politicians, economists, and journalists on local TV — has probably made several. 

But one of the central tenets of Christianity is forgiveness, so if anyone had to prove capable of letting them slide, it was probably the leader of the Catholic Church, the Argentinian Pope Francis.

Mr. Milei once famously accused Pope Francis of being “the representative of the Evil One on Earth. Occupying the throne in the house of God.” The video is worth watching in full to get a full understanding of the ideology behind his accusations: 

“Envy used to be a deadly sin. But we need to tell this to the imbecile who is in Rome, who defends social justice. We need to let him know that this amounts to stealing. That social justice is a deadly sin, even if you disguise it with a nice name. (…) The Pope is pushing communism, despite all the disasters it caused, and despite all the warnings in the Bible,” Mr. Milei said in 2020, to the astonishment of Viviana Canosa, one of the most right-wing TV hosts on Argentinian television.

Things, however, can change fast in politics, as the recent pictures of Mr. Milei and the Pope embracing each other prove. After an hour-long private encounter at the Vatican last week, Mr. Milei said:

“It was a fantastic meeting. When...