‘I’m alive because of God’ – Cristina breaks her silence

Vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has finally broken her silence after the assassination attempt against her, declaring “I feel that I am alive because of God and Virgin Mary” in her first public appearance since the failed attack.

In an address to slum priests and other religious leaders that took place in the Senate on Thursday, exactly two weeks after the event, Fernández de Kirchner revealed that Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, had contacted her a day after Fernando Sabbag Montiel aimed a gun at her at point blank range, pulled the trigger but failed to fire the shot.

“I wanted my first public appearance to be with you. I feel that I am alive because of God and Virgin Mary,” she said.

“And if I am alive for God and the Virgin, I had to [speak] surrounded by slum priests and sisters,” she added.

In a similar vein, she referred to the controversial Mass that the Frente de Todos ruling coalition held last Saturday in the Luján Basilica, which opposition lawmakers did not attend.

“I would have liked to be there, but there was going to be a lot of security, and I did not want to hinder a very special event with my presence,” she said.

“Pray for me; I need it,” she added in her first public statement since the nowdetained Sabag Montiel seemed to attempt to shoot the Vice-president in a crowd outside her Recoleta home.

Though never speaking in person, Fernández de Kirchner has previously addressed the incident on social media.

On Monday, the former head of state tweeted an image of the Clarín newspaper’s front page, highlighting an article that read, “The bullet that did not come out and the ruling that did.

Accompanying the vicepresident during her address were various members of the Frente de Todos caucus from the upper house, including Oscar Parrilli from Neuquén, María Teresa González from Formosa, Edgardo Kueider from Entre Ríos, Carlos Linares from Chubut, Matías Rodríguez from Fuegian, Martín Doñate from Rio Negro and Adolfo Rodríguez Saá from San Luis.