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Pope Francis is wrong on Falklands, says David Cameron Pope Francis is wrong on Falklands, says David Cameron
(about 1 hour later)
David Cameron has said Pope Francis was wrong to say last year that Britain had "usurped" the Falkland Islands from Argentina. Less than 48 hours into the world's first Latin American papacy, David Cameron took issue in public with Pope Francis I on Friday, quipping that the "white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear" and dismissing the pontiff's explicit claims backing Argentinian ownership of the South Atlantic islands.
The pope, who is the first Argentinian pontiff and a former Aarchbishop of Buenos Aires, had previously described the disputed islands as "Argentinian soil". As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the new pope had frequently laid claim to Argentinian dominion over the Falklands, describing them as part of Argentina's homeland. He had presided over religious ceremonies commemorating his countrymen's servicemen who died in the 1982 war following the junta's invasion of the islands.
But the prime minister on Friday urged all world leaders, including the pope, to respect the overwhelming 99.8% vote in this week's Falklands referendum in favour of remaining a British Overseas Territory. "I don't agree with him, respectfully, obviously," Cameron said when asked about Pope Francis's views on the Falklands.
In a reference to the method used by the Vatican to announce a decision on the identity of the new pope, he said: "The white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear." In a referendum last week in the Falklands a total of three voted not to remain under the British, the tiniest minority among more than 1,500 who said the islands should remain a Crown overseas territory.
Asked at a press conference in Brussels whether he agreed with Pope Francis on the issue of the Falklands, Cameron said: "I don't agree with him – respectfully, obviously. "There was a pretty extraordinarily clear referendum in the Falkland Islands," said the prime minister, "and I think that is a message to everyone in the world that the people of these islands have chosen very clearly the future they want and that choice should be respected by everyone."
"There was a pretty extraordinarily clear referendum in the Falkland Islands and I think that is a message to everyone in the world that the people of these islands have chosen very clearly the future they want and that choice should be respected by everyone." In a quip referring to the Vatican conclave of cardinals that made Francis the new pope on Wednesday, Cameron added: "As it were, the white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear."
On the 30th anniversary of the war last year at a mass in Buenos Aires, the archbishop had said that the Argentinian forces who died following the invasion "went out to defend their mother, the homeland, to reclaim what is theirs". He described the British re-conquest under the Thatcher government as "usurpation."