A wall on Avenida de Mayo in Buenos Aires appeared covered with posters calling on Leo XIV to remove Cardinal Víctor Manuel “Tucho” Fernández as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The images began circulating on social media on Sunday, November 8, the same day the Pope arrived in the Argentine capital and was received by President Javier Milei on the first trip of his pontificate to Latin America.
The message, in Spanish, reads: “Holy Father: for the good of the Church, remove Tucho.” The posters add the phrase “Here we know him well” and include photographs of the cardinal. The people who put them up have not been identified.
A QR code links to a 2023 homily
The posters include a QR code that leads to a video of a homily delivered by Fernández in La Plata Cathedral on March 5, 2023, which the campaign’s promoters consider heretical. In it, the then-archbishop referred to the norms on who may receive Communion and praised Francis for helping Catholics move beyond those frameworks.
The initiative comes as Leo XIV travels through Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru on a trip that runs until November 17. In Argentine territory, the visit includes Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Luján.
The prefect stayed in Rome
Fernández is not part of the papal entourage on this trip to his country. InfoVaticana has already reported that the prefect would not accompany Leo XIV on his visit to Argentina.
It is not the first time a request has been made to the Pope to remove the cardinal: in November 2025 a petition was launched to Leo XIV with the same objective. Fernández remains at the head of the dicastery, to which he was appointed by Francis in 2023.