Pope Francis was previously known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio before his papacy began in March 2013. He is the first Pope from either of the Americas, having been born and raised in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. The conflict over the Falklands ownership has come to the forefront of Argentine politics recently, as the new President-elect Peronist Alberto Fernandez promised that he may “renew claims of sovereignty” over the islands during his election campaign.
He also has the former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as his deputy.
She was known for repeatedly requesting David Cameron re-open discussions over the Falkland Islands throughout her own premiership, and for clashing with Pope Francis when he was a cardinal – she even considered him a political rival.
Writing in The Telegraph in March 2013 – after Pope Francis had been appointed – reporter Donna Bowater recalled how the former Cardinal’s words from a previous Mass, on April 2 2012, appeared showed his support for Argentina in the Falklands dispute.
On the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, he addressed Argentinian veterans and deemed that the Argentine forces were “defending” the homeland.
He said: “We come to pray for those who have fallen, sons of the homeland who set out to defend his mother, the homeland, to claim the country that is theirs and they were usurped.
“Many young people were there and could not return. Others returned but none could forget.
“Many scars, many families destroyed by permanent absence or a return cut short. The country needs to remember them all.
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“The country cannot exclude from its memory any of those who were called; it has to take care of so many hearts with scars and say thank you, to those who remained on the islands or submerged in water, all of them.
“The country should recognise their scars.”
According to The Telegraph, he was addressing former soldiers and families of those who died during the ten-week battle.
His words were also recorded an Argentine news agency, Diario de Noticias, and widely reported throughout the country at the time.
Reporter Ms Bowater explained: “[His comments] indicate that, despite reports of frosty relations between the presidency and the Argentine church, the new Pope is politically aligned with Cristina Kirchner, who has increasingly returned to the issue of the sovereignty of the islands recent months.”
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However, in the years since the occasion, Pope Francis has withdrawn from the issue.
A 2013 referendum held in the Falklands revealed only three people of the 1,571 eligible voters wanted to switch to Argentine rule.
Still, Ms Kirchner asked the Pope to intervene with the conflict and start a dialogue with the UK over the islands when she was in office – she came to support him after recognising his wide popularity.
In a 2013 BBC article, Ms Kirchner is quoted as saying: “I asked for his intervention to avoid problems that could emerge from the militarisation of Great Britain in the South Atlantic.
“At the moment there are no dangers which justify the occupation of the whole South Atlantic area by the United Kingdom.”
In August 2015, the Pope was also “tricked” into holding a sign during a papal audience which stated: “It’s time for dialogue between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands.”
Ms Kirchner then retweeted an image of the Pope holding the sign to her four million followers with the hashtag ‘Malvinas Argentinas’ – the islands’ name in Spanish.
However, a senior Vatican official Father Ciro Benedettini said the Pope “did not know and did not realise what was written on it”.