Pope Francis canonized the first female saint from his native Argentina on Sunday, bringing his former fierce critic, Argentine President Javier Millais, to the Vatican, Reuters reported.

Francis celebrated a canonization service at St. Peter’s Basilica for Maria Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, better known as “Mother Antula,” an 18th-century woman who renounced her family’s wealth to focus on charity and the Jesuits’ spiritual path.

Milea was in the front row for the service and at the end exchanged a few words with the Pope as they shook hands and hugged. The Argentine president is scheduled to hold a private audience with Francis on Monday.

The ceremony came as Argentina faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation above 200%, and the newly elected Millay struggling after parliament rejected a package of major reforms.

Before running for president, Miley, a libertarian independent, insulted Francis in scathing comments, including calling the pope “the representative of evil on Earth,” but softened his tone after taking office in December.

The Pope “is the most important Argentine in history,” Millay told Radio Miter on Saturday.In an interview with Argentinian radio, Millay said he was looking forward to a “very fruitful dialogue” with Francis and hoped the sovereign pontiff’s health , aged 87, will be well enough to meet the trip to Argentina.

Francis, the former archbishop of Buenos Aires who angered some of his countrymen by never visiting his native country since becoming pope in 2013, said he may eventually make the trip in the second half of this year. “

“Antula’s mother, a gift to the Argentine people”

Antula’s mother was the daughter of a rich landowner and slave owner. She promoted spiritual exercises, including prayer and meditation, walking thousands of kilometers barefoot, and involving rich and poor alike in these endeavors, despite the Jesuits being expelled from Latin America at the time.

Francis, himself a Jesuit, called it Friday “a gift to the Argentine people, as well as to the entire Church.”

The pope denounced the “radical individualism” permeating society like a “virus,” in words that might be at odds with Mill’s radical free-market instincts.

In his Sunday sermon, he returned to the issue of caring for the poor and marginalized, saying that “fear, prejudice and false religiosity” lead people to the “great injustice” of ignoring the plight of the bitter.