Ángel Rossi: “Inflation has decreased, but poverty has increased.”

“I’m worried about world peace ,” says Ángel Rossi when asked what worries him most right now. A couple of minutes after talking about the senselessness of war , he focuses his answer on the reality of the country . And, true to his style, with a calm, measured, and distinctly Cordoban tone, he assures: “I’m not a technician , but I do believe my people. They tell me this in the soup kitchens , in the neighborhoods , in the parishes . What we see is more hunger , more need , and more pain : inflation may have gone down, but poverty hasn’t . Poverty has gone up .”

Rossi is the visible face of a Church that, in recent years, coinciding with his arrival at the Archbishopric replacing Carlos Ñañez in 2021, has slowly but steadily adopted a more leading role both in discourse and in practice , such as bringing together the political leadership of Córdoba at the start of electoral campaigns. The meetings are a success : no one avoids Rossi's invitation, and he cannot be politically pigeonholed. "Rossi is like Francis . He is always among the people, helping," say those who know him.

Your agenda is challenging . Do you think it's uncomfortable? "I don't know if it's uncomfortable ; that's not the point. I feel uncomfortable when the Church is challenged, and I think that's fine; that's the way it should be. But there are no political issues here. The idea is to help , not to bother," he tells Perfil Córdoba .

It is no coincidence that Rossi, appointed cardinal by Pope Francis in June 2023, has raised his voice to bring to the table sensitive issues such as poverty , inflation , the " cruel " cuts in medicines for retirees by the national government and the social decomposition generated by gambling in young people, among other issues of social relevance .

Continuing with the opening line of the talk, while Rossi emphasized that some macroeconomic indicators appear to be stabilizing , he cautioned that this does not translate into real improvement for the working class . "It may provide a certain psychological serenity , but the reality hasn't changed . This macroeconomic situation hasn't yet reached everyone," he said, referring to the concrete effects on people's daily lives .

“I want to clarify that this is not new . It's not that this government and in these times invented this poverty . We've been going on for decades . But what is clear is that (the situation) has not eased; I would say that in some areas, the needs have worsened ,” the archbishop insists. “Sometimes one hears statements that don't match what we experience every day. There's a kind of unreality . What country are they talking about?” he asked. The inescapable reference is to the government of Javier Milei .

The grandparents' dilemma

The cardinal didn't hesitate to speak about the sectors hardest hit by the adjustment: retirees . "Today, a grandparent has to choose between eating or taking medication . That speaks to a decadent society ," he stated. He also expressed concern for young people : " Kids are gambling on their cell phones , they're getting into debt, they're getting desperate. This even needs to be said because it's serious: there are cases of suicide linked to this," he warned.

In that sense, she questioned government measures that cut social programs or defund soup kitchens : “We've lumped everyone together. There are heroic women in our neighborhoods who keep food in the pans with what little they have. And now it turns out they're all thieves ,” she said, referring to the accusations against social organizations .

While Rossi praises the commitment of many figures in the ecclesiastical sphere, he acknowledged that the Church as an institution also faces pending challenges . “We need greater commitment . We need to get our feet wet ,” he admitted. He added: “People need to feel supported . We may not be able to solve all the problems, but we can make sure they don't feel alone .” In that sense, he praised the spontaneous solidarity of the people: “Often the most humble are the most sensitive . Thank God, there are still neighbors who look out for one another .”

“There are issues that cannot be dodged.”

Asked about the role of the political class , the archbishop was clear: “There's a bit of everything. Some are truly committed, while others are speculating . But the truth is that there are issues that can't be sidestepped : hunger , jobs , and medicines for the elderly .”

Along these lines, he insisted that these problems transcend the political or ideological : “When children and the elderly are neglected , when politics no longer takes care of the human , that indicates that we are in the presence of a social decline . We are becoming dehumanized . And that is neither religious nor political : it is human .”