Argentina's president, Cristina Kirchner, has called on Pope Francis, with whom she is reported to have "frosty" relations , to intervene over the Falkland Islands dispute.

Meeting at the Vatican on Monday, Kirchner called on the newly elected pontificate, the first ever from Argentina, to "achieve a dialogue with the United Kingdom over Malvinas".

pope kirchner falklands

Pope Francis and Kirchner at the Vatican

Speaking to reporters afterwards, she said: "I asked for his intervention to avoid problems that could emerge from the militarization of Great Britain in the south Atlantic.

"We want a dialogue and that's why we asked the pope to intervene so that the dialogue is successful."

Kirchner's bellicose bellowing has taken a more personal turn of late.

Last week she said the Falkland Island's referendum on remaining British was if "a bunch of squatters were to vote on whether or not to keep occupying a building illegally".

The Pope's response is not yet known but it is thought he is a stauch defender of his country's rights to the Falkland Islands, once telling followers at a Mass for veterans of the conflict to "go and kiss this land which is ours".

"There are angels who will accompany you, who are sons, husbands and fathers of yours, who fell there, in an almost religious movement, of kissing with their blood the native soil," he added.

David Cameron last week upheld the outcome of the referendum, in which all but three vote were to remain British, saying: "The white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear."

Many see Kirchner's relentless focus on the Falkland's issue an attempt to distract the country's population from the poor economic record of the government.

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  • In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis stands by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez showing a picture of a marble plaque commemorating the 1984 peace and friendship treaty between Argentina and Chile as they meet at the Pope's temporary apartments in the Santa Marta hotel at the Vatican, Monday, March 18, 2013. Inscription in Latin reads: "In the fifth year of Benedict XVI's pontificate, after 25 years from the peace and friendship treaty reached with the mediation of Pope John Paul II, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Jeria and Argentine President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner in remembrance of the efforts, Casina Pio IV, on November 28, 2009." (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)

  • ITALY-ARGENTINA-POPE-VATICAN

    Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (c) arrives for a press conference on March 18, 2013 in Rome, on the eve of Pope Francis inauguration mass. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said Monday that she had asked her compatriot Pope Francis to intervene in the row between their country and Britain over the Falkland Islands. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI,ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

  • ITALY-ARGENTINA-POPE-VATICAN

    Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner holds 'mate' -traditional South American infused drink, during a press conference on March 18, 2013 in Rome, on the eve of Pope Francis inauguration mass. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said Monday that she had asked her compatriot Pope Francis to intervene in the row between their country and Britain over the Falkland Islands. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI,ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

  • In this photo provided by the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis meets Argentine President Cristina Fernandez at the Vatican, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he met with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, with whom he has clashed over her socially liberal policies and what he has called the government's totalitarianism. Fernandez called on the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires Monday at his temporary home, the Vatican hotel on the edge of the Vatican gardens, and the two later lunched together, a day before she and other world leaders attend his installation Mass in St. Peter's Square that some estimates say could bring 1 million people to Rome. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)

  • In this photo provided by the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis meets Argentine President Cristina Fernandez at the Vatican, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he met with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, with whom he has clashed over her socially liberal policies and what he has called the government's totalitarianism. Fernandez called on the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires Monday at his temporary home, the Vatican hotel on the edge of the Vatican gardens, and the two later lunched together, a day before she and other world leaders attend his installation Mass in St. Peter's Square that some estimates say could bring 1 million people to Rome. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)

  • Argentine President Cristina Fernandez meets the media during a news conference in Rome, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he had lunch with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez: As leader of Argentina's Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery while she called his position on gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. That was then. On Monday, Fernandez gave the new pope a mate gourd and straw, to hold the traditional Argentine tea that Francis loves, and he gave her a kiss. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

  • Argentine President Cristina Fernandez meets the media during a news conference in Rome, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he had lunch with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez: As leader of Argentina's Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery while she called his position on gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. That was then. On Monday, Fernandez gave the new pope a mate gourd and straw, to hold the traditional Argentine tea that Francis loves, and he gave her a kiss. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

  • Argentine President Christina Fernandez holds a mate gourd, during a news conference in Rome, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he had lunch with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez: As leader of Argentina's Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery while she called his position on gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. That was then. On Monday, Fernandez gave the new pope a mate gourd and straw, to hold the traditional Argentine tea that Francis loves, and he gave her a kiss. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

  • Argentine President Cristina Fernandez shows a mate gourd, during a news conference in Rome, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he had lunch with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez: As leader of Argentina's Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery while she called his position on gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. That was then. On Monday, Fernandez gave the new pope a mate gourd and straw, to hold the traditional Argentine tea that Francis loves, and he gave her a kiss. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

  • Argentine President Cristina Fernandez shows a mate gourd, during a news conference in Rome, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he had lunch with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez: As leader of Argentina's Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery while she called his position on gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. That was then. On Monday, Fernandez gave the new pope a mate gourd and straw, to hold the traditional Argentine tea that Francis loves, and he gave her a kiss. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

  • Argentine President Cristina Fernandez speaks during a news conference in Rome, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he had lunch with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez: As leader of Argentina's Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery while she called his position on gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. That was then. On Monday, Fernandez gave the new pope a mate gourd and straw, to hold the traditional Argentine tea that Francis loves, and he gave her a kiss. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

  • Argentine President Cristina Fernandez meets the media during a news conference in Rome, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he had lunch with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez: As leader of Argentina's Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery while she called his position on gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. That was then. On Monday, Fernandez gave the new pope a mate gourd and straw, to hold the traditional Argentine tea that Francis loves, and he gave her a kiss. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

  • Argentine President Cristina Fernandez meets the media during a news conference in Rome, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he had lunch with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez: As leader of Argentina's Catholics, he had accused her populist government of demagoguery while she called his position on gay adoptions reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. That was then. On Monday, Fernandez gave the new pope a mate gourd and straw, to hold the traditional Argentine tea that Francis loves, and he gave her a kiss. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

  • Cristina Fernandez, Jorge Bergoglio

    FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2008 file photo, Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, left, shakes hands with Buenos Aires' archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Lujan, Argentina. Bergoglio, who chose the name of Francis, was chosen as the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on March 13, 2013. Pope Francis has honed his leadership skills in one of the most difficult classrooms on the planet: Argentina, where politics has long been a blood sport practiced only by the brave. (AP Photo/DyN, File)