Pope Francis rejects donation from Argentina president that had figure 666 in it

Pope Francis refused the donation given by Argentine President Mauricio Macri because the sum contained the figures 666, according to reports.

The Argentine president made a donation of 16,666,000 pesos (less than $1.2m) for the Argentine educational foundation supported by the Vatican, Scholas Occurentes. However, Francis reportedly wrote to the foundation instructing to return the money.

"I don't like the 666," the pope was quoted by the Vatican Insider as saying, as reported by The Guardian.

According to Telegraph, an unnamed government official explained to a local outlet that the amount was a sum total based on the computation of the foundation's headquarters in Buenos Aires, the salaries of its 36 employees, and building expenses. The source also added that they were only following the request made by the organization itself but unfortunately the pope was left uninformed about it.

Scholas obliged to return the money while pointing out that "there are those who are trying to misrepresent this institutional gesture...with the purpose of generating confusion and division among Argentines."

Scholas' statement seemed to support reports that Francis didn't take it too well that the Argentinian media are depicting the president's gesture as a sign of a warming relationship between the two prominent Argentinian leaders.

It is not the 666 figure in the donation that reportedly caused the tension between the president and the pope, though. The tension is believed to have sparked when Macri's center-right government arrested Milagro Sala, a popular community activist whose association with the pope goes way back when he was still known as Jorge Bergoglio. Francis is a supporter of the country's social movement for which Sala is a prominent figure.

Macri's side claimed that they did not perceive the pope's rejection of the money as offensive.

"There is no animosity towards the president," Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra said.

"It was a very rich, very natural conversation, with no calling of accounts or enormous philosophical differences," she added.

However, critics of Marci's administration find his donation offensive.

"The 16 million didn't sound good," Argentinian social activist Juan Grabois told local media.

"Whoever thinks that by giving money, especially public funds to a foundation directly or indirectly linked to Francis, is making a gesture to the pope, is stupid."