Corruptio Optimi Pessima

This is the city standard of Buenos Aires.  May God save that corrupt city which has given the world its first American (and an honest Jesuit!) Pope, Holy Father Francis, the Vicar of Christ.

May the Holy Spirit hover again over that city of the Our Holy Father Francis, to light, to purify, to guard, to rule, to guide her.

I visited Buenos Aires a few years ago and found it to be the most corrupt city I have ever visited.  The Argentines think themselves so enlightened and are so backward in their enthusiasm for every type of doctrinal, moral and political confusion.  They are at least fifty years behind the rest of the world in their zealous communism, freudianism and rejection of religion, embracing every manner of perversion of the truth and of basic decency.  At the end of this page you will find an e-mail I sent to a friend just after the Feb. 2011 trip, my impressions of the country.

Here is an explanation of the seal.

An ellipse with a 5/6 ratio between its major and minor axis. Since 1649 it has a white dove at the top (shield), with its wings open, radiant with sunshine, symbolizing the Holy Spirit under whose patronage the city is entrusted. An anchor sable (black) half submerged An ellipse ratio 5/6 between its major and minor axis. Take a dove from 1649 white, with their wings open, radiant sunshine, head (upper shield) which means the holy spirit was placed under whose patronage the city. In the tip (lower sector of the shield) an anchor sable (black) half submerged, with the part of the cane and a nail out of the surface. From classical antiquity, the anchor represents the port city, the natural harbor, the anchorage and even the happy return
navigation. The shield has the double meaning of anchorage and port. A little farther below the minor axis of the oval, two ships, a caravel and a sixteenth-century brig, both with Spanish flags and seen on the port side (left). The former means the first foundation by Don Pedro de Mendoza and, the second, the foundation of Juan de Garay, but on this particular point, I clarify that there is not complete agreement in the various studies that have been conducted by historians. The caravel have two castles, four uprights and bowsprit. the rigged brig round or cross on the ratchet and Latin mizzen mast, both ships will bulwark with flag caps and streamers in penalties. The river in a state of gentle and curly waves represents the waters of the Rio de la Plata.  (Google translate with a few corrections from me)

Una elipse de proporción 5/6 entre su eje mayor y menor. Lleva desde 1649 una paloma
blanca, con sus alas abiertas, radiante de rayos solares, en jefe (parte superior del
escudo) que significa el espíritu santo bajo cuya advocación fue colocada la ciudad. En
punta ( sector inferior del escudo) un ancla de sable (negro) medio sumergida, con la
parte de la caña y una uña fuera de la superficie. Desde la antigüedad clásica, el ancla
representa a la ciudad puerto, al puerto natural, al fondeadero e incluso al feliz retorno de
una navegación. En el escudo tiene el doble significado de fondeadero y puerto. Un poco
más debajo de la línea del eje menor del óvalo, hay dos naves- una carabela y un bergantín del siglo XVI- ambos con banderas españolas y vistos por el costado de babor (
izquierda). El primero significa la primera fundación por Don Pedro de Mendoza y el
segundo la fundación de Juan de Garay, aunque sobre este punto en particular, debo
aclarar que no existe total coincidencia en los estudios que han efectuado diversos
historiadores. La carabela tendrá dos castillos, cuatro palos verticales y bauprés. El
bergantín con aparejo redondo o de cruz en el trinquete y latino en el mástil de mesana,
ambas naves irán empavesadas con bandera en los topes y flámulas en las penas. Las
aguas del río en estado de suave oleaje o rizadas representan las aguas del Río de la
Plata.

My impressions of Argentina

My trip to Argentina was instructive though not edifying.  I learned that the Argentines are quite disoriented ideologically, and therefore, to my mind, socially anything can happen because of this lack of intellectual stability.  It's a recipe for disaster.  Buenos Aires beats any other city I know (including New York!) in being the present day "Whore of Babylon."  E.g. Mardi Gras was total chaos with countless debauched riotings, rapes, murders, etc.  Very scary even for me, a priest who has worked in urban American ghettos for decades and am quite familiar with inner city muggings and shootings.

 

On a positive note, their beef is the best and the cheapest in the world, and everyone seems to be able to afford to eat it...all the time!  The wildlife in Chaco (a north central region I visited) is wonderful, particularly the divers bird species--I even saw ostriches in the country fields by the highway.  And one of the most delightful birds was a bird which hangs out on and jumps up and down on the back of the grazing horse to eat it's insects!

 

Uruguay (a day trip crossing the Rio de Plata) was remarkable.  We went to Colonia which is a colonial city (17th century foundation) equivalent to anything you might see in the US and Europe in its sophistication, but with a most quaint historic town and some very impressive historic monuments (built by the Portuguese and Spanish kings).  I would recommend Uruguay over Argentina for its friendliness, cleanliness and good order, and religious bearings.