Archbishop Héctor Aguer, who led the Archdiocese of La Plata from 2000 to 2018, has granted an interview to the portal AdVaticanum coinciding with the visit of Leo XIV to Argentina, the first by a Pope to the country since the trips of Saint John Paul II in 1982 and 1987. At 83 years old and in very delicate health, the prelate offers an uncompromising assessment of the state of the Argentine Church.
For Aguer, the purpose of the visit is above all to confirm the faithful in the faith. He recalls the call that John Paul II addressed to the Argentine Church in 1987, “Arise and shine,” and considers it still a pending task. According to the data he cites, in 1960 90% of Argentines declared themselves Catholic, compared to 57% today. He also rejects attempts to politicize the trip in the context of tensions between part of the hierarchy and the government of Javier Milei: the Pope, he maintains, “is not coming to take sides with any leader.”
A harsh assessment of the pontificate of Francis
The emeritus archbishop attributes to Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s formation in the “theology of the people,” which he describes as the Argentine version of liberation theology, a decisive influence on the country’s episcopate. He believes that the appointments of those twelve years, including those of very young auxiliary bishops, will shape the coming decades.
“We have empty seminaries, empty convents, and a dramatic shortage of priests,” he states. He cites the closure of the seminaries of San Rafael and San Luis, which according to him were recognized for the quality of their formation, and claims that there are dioceses “with more bishops than seminarians.” He sees, however, a sign of hope in the growing interest of young laypeople, religious, and priests in orthodoxy and tradition.
Regarding Francis’s absence from Argentina throughout his pontificate, Aguer, who knew him for more than four decades, dismisses the explanation of fear of political instrumentalization. His interpretation is different: the Pope would not have wanted to come “for fear of not being well received” and of not drawing the crowds that John Paul II gathered.
Traditional Mass and synodality
On liturgical matters, Aguer asserts that the traditional Mass in Argentina suffers “all kinds of disdain and restrictions” and that authorizations are scarce. He proposes as a solution returning to Benedict XVI’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum and “repealing Traditionis custodes,” which he refers to, along with other measures of the previous pontificate, as “draconian” measures.
On synodality, he maintains that the Church has always defined itself as “communion” and that the Synod of Bishops exists to serve it, not to “democratize” hierarchical decisions. He links the recent process with the “Church in a state of assembly” promoted in Buenos Aires during Bergoglio’s archiepiscopate, and believes that Leo XIV must bring, along with liturgical peace, limits to “so many deviations.”
An archbishop who will not be able to see the Pope
Aguer confirms that his state of health will prevent him from meeting the Pontiff. He highlights as his greatest work in La Plata the ordination of 49 priests, many of whom now serve in working-class neighborhoods. He says he offers his sufferings for the Church and recalls that Leo XIV is a son of Saint Augustine, whom he has admired all his life: “May the Lord strengthen the Pope so that he may calm the waters in the Church.”