An official close to Caputo questioned García Cuerva before the Pope's visit

The director of the Bank of Investment and Foreign Trade (BICE), Felipe Núñez, criticized Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva on the social network X this Friday, following his remarks about the situation the country is going through, days before the Pope's arrival in Argentina. Felipe Núñez's post about García Cuerva"As a Catholic, I am tired of this guy. Less politics and more preaching the word of God, Cuerva," the head of the entity, which is under the Ministry of Economy led by Luis Caputo, wrote on social media. The clash came after García Cuerva warned that Pope Leo XIV will find a nation beset by various social difficulties. "He is going to find a wounded Argentina, a divided Argentina, with that famous rift," the monsignor said during a media interview. García Cuerva said the Pope will find a divided ArgentinaSoledad AznarezThe archbishop also referred to the economic situation: "He is going to find an Argentina where a very large percentage of brothers who are having a hard time are suffering, brothers who have been very poor for many years, an Argentina that has been in crisis for many years."His stance also coincides with the criticism he already delivered during the Te Deum on May 25 before various representatives of the national government. At that ceremony, the religious leader questioned social fragmentation and took aim at individualistic positions. "Enough with inciting division and polarization, because no one is saved alone," he said at the Metropolitan Cathedral, where he also warned: "'Every man for himself' is nothing more than the expression of a cruel individualism that breaks the bonds of fraternity." García Cuerva, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, called for dialogue in politicsHis previous controversyAs LA NACION reported, Felipe Núñez had already been at the center of public opinion when he faced public questioning over a series of loans issued by Banco Nación. The BICE member became involved in that episode after it came to light that he had been granted a mortgage loan in the amount of $373,000,000. That figure represented, according to the exchange rate at the time, around US$315,000 —it was in February 2025—. At the time, and in response to the case becoming public, Núñez justified the financing on a program on the Carajo channel: "We did nothing illegal or immoral. We went, like anyone else, to take out a loan, at the same rate and term that anyone eligible can get." For its part, the board of the official financial institution backed the operations and stated that internal audits confirmed the transparency of the procedures. Meanwhile, the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, decided to dismiss Leandro Massaccesi, an official in her ministry who appeared on the list of beneficiaries. Jorge García CuervaPope Leo XIVLa Libertad Avanza