Javier Milei revealed that he apologized to Pope Francis during their last meeting: "He told me they were mistakes of his youth."

From Rome, where he arrived this Friday to attend Pope Francis' funeral tomorrow, Javier Milei revealed previously unpublished details of his February 2024 meeting with the Pontiff. The President expressed regret for his fierce criticism of the Pope, said he managed to apologize , and described the response he received: "He told me they were mistakes of his youth."

Milei's criticism of Francis surfaced in recent days, following the Pope's death on Monday morning at the Vatican. While the president expressed his condolences, X users recalled his scathing remarks about the man he had once described as "the representative of evil on Earth."

This Friday, hours before taking part in the Pope's state funeral, the President addressed these concerns.

"Yes, of course I apologized. And he said , 'Don't get upset, these are youthful mistakes.' I think it was a little more... If I remember correctly, he said , 'When we're young, we all do stupid things,'" Milei recalled, laughing, the meeting she had with the Pope on February 12 of last year.

On the other hand, despite long-standing criticism, the President described Jorge Bergoglio as "the most important Argentine in history."

"It's a huge loss for the Argentine people. We did something wrong, and that's why he never wanted to come to Argentina. The loss of a human being is always extremely painful. It's painful that the most important Argentine in history has passed away," Milei remarked.

He asserted that Francis was "the spiritual leader of nearly 2 billion human beings." He added, "That's much bigger than one can imagine."

"It was a lot of fun talking to him. The times I got to interact with him were very nice. Those 70 minutes were a lot of fun," the libertarian continued, speaking to Radio Mitre.

He also recalled the moment he introduced him to Axel Wahnish, his rabbi and "spiritual guide" and current Argentine ambassador to Israel.

"At the time, I was coming from Israel and I introduced him to my rabbi. It was very funny because Axel said to Pope Francis, 'Well, look, I brought it back for you,' and the Pope said, 'No, keep it,'" Milei recounted, laughing.

Milei also responded to questions about not arriving in time to bid farewell to Pope Francis at St. Peter's Basilica, where hundreds of thousands of faithful bid him farewell with the coffin open. He was closing the doors when the ARG-01 plane with the Argentine delegation landed in Fiumicino.

The President stated that his official agenda begins Saturday at 8 a.m. and that he had no activities scheduled for Friday at the Vatican.

"We arrived and went straight to the hotel," the President emphasized, once again attacking those who crossed him for not having been to St. Peter's Basilica later that day. "They have blatantly lied. Our formal activity starts tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.," he reiterated.

As reported by the presidential entourage, Milei said he will have to spend a minimum of 10 hours in Italy until the mandatory rest period for the crew of the plane that brought him to that country is over. During that time , he will meet with President Giorgia Meloni, as he hinted in the radio interview.

"We're going to have parallel meetings; we're going to take advantage of them because the plane can't leave immediately either. So we're going to have meetings with various members of the Italian government. I don't know if there will be a bilateral meeting with Meloni. We've agreed to hold a meeting with her after the wake," said the President, who clarified that the foreign ministers of both countries will define the format of that meeting.