Argentina and Britain fought a 1982 war over the islands, which Argentina calls Malvinas. Earlier this month, the islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain a British Overseas Territory.
There was no indication that Francis, now pope, would take up the request from Fernandez, with whom he has clashed for years over her populist policies on gay marriage and other hot-button issues like birth control that will soon confront Francis on a global scale as leader of the world’s 1.2-billion Catholics.
Francis may well map out some of his own priorities in his installation Mass on Tuesday, which some 130 government delegations and scores of Jewish, Orthodox and other Christian representatives will attend. Italian news reports say civil protection officials are gearing up for as many as 1 million people to flock to the event.
There was no immediate comment from the Vatican as to whether the Argentine-born Francis would accept Fernandez’s intervention request, which was made during a meeting and luncheon at the Vatican hotel where Francis has been staying since his election last week.
The British Foreign Office, however, made clear it didn’t expect any Vatican intervention in the dispute.
“The Holy See is clear that it considers the question of the Falkland Islands as a bilateral one between sovereign nations, and that it does not have a role to play. We do not expect that position to change,” it said in a statement.
Francis and Fernandez are longtime rivals: As leader of Argentina’s Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery, while she called his opposition to gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. But where the Falklands are concerned, Francis, like most Argentines, believes the islands rightfully belong to Argentina.
Fernandez told journalists Monday after having lunch with the pope that she had asked for Francis’ intercession to “facilitate dialogue” with Britain over the islands.
Just last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he didn’t agree with Francis’ views on the Falklands. And on Monday, the Foreign Office recalled the referendum results in its statement, saying: the vote “sent a clear message around the world that the people of the islands want to remain as a British Overseas Territory.”
In asking Francis to intervene, Fernandez said she recalled how Pope John Paul II averted war in 1978 between Argentina and Chile over three tiny islands in the Beagle Channel at the southern tip of South America.