By Augusto Morel
Buenos Aires, Apr 21 (EFE) – Dozens of people gathered at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires to pray and pay homage to Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, the “Pope of the poor,” as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge García Cuerva, called him.
From early in the morning, the Cathedral was full of people who, between prayers and sighs, could not hold back their tears and sought consolation in the Archbishop’s homily.
As the hours passed, the faithful were joined by curious onlookers and tourists, drawn by the curiosity of experiencing a historic moment in Buenos Aires.
“The Pope of the poor, of the marginalized, of those whom no one wants, of those whom many exclude,” said García Cuerva to the dismayed faces.
Near the cathedral, where Bergoglio was archbishop for fifteen years, there was chaos around the Plaza de Mayo, due to honking horns and whistles of traffic agents amid the constant movement of people rushing to the church’s doors.
“The pain of the heart is great because our Holy Father is gone. Our father, the Holy Father of the Argentines, whom we did not always understand but whom we loved deeply,” Cuerva continued.
Those present respectfully disguised the need to break the silence and express their tears, some hiding in the side altars that honor Mary or other saints, others standing with their heads bowed, leaning against the marble pillars or at the back of the church.
“The best tribute we can pay is to unite, build bridges, dialogue, and stop confronting each other all the time. Because if he was Holy Father, what greater pain could he have than to see his children divided. May Francis go to heaven with the peace of mind that his children will try to live in the national unity that is so lacking among us,” the archbishop concluded.
The altar was draped in a black mantle and enveloped with a smiling Francis covered in white floral arrangements.
Buenos Aires’ Pope
Gustavo Fernandez, a pensioner who barely makes ends meet, took two buses and the subway to get to the cathedral.
He told EFE that he had to pray for Bergoglio, whom he defined as “a priest very dedicated to the needs of the people.
“He was the priest that many were not: he was at the side of the most needy. A man who, despite being Pope, was still a priest, Bergoglio, and that was a change in the Catholic Church,” he added, covering his red and swollen eyes with sunglasses.
“What hurts me the most is that he did not come to his country to visit. Of the 266 popes, he was the only Latin American. He never came because, unfortunately, I think he got caught up in the rift of Argentine politics,” he added.
Until the Pope is laid to rest in the Vatican, Masses will be celebrated in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, churches, parishes, and chapels throughout the country, especially in the slums and popular neighborhoods that Bergoglio visited and tended to.
After the Mass, the faithful began to stream out the doors of the building, as others took the opportunity to enter and pray in solitude.
Some young people began to light candles on the columns next to an emblem of San Lorenzo, the Pope’s favorite soccer club, and a handwritten sign that read: “Fly very high, you will always be in our hearts, we are all very sad.”
The president of Acción Católica de Buenos Aires, an ecclesiastical institution formed by lay people to promote pastoral activities, Ana María Pérez Bodria, told EFE that “today is a sad but happy day.”
“Sad because he left this world, happy because we know he is in the house of the Father. Yesterday, he gave us his blessing and the joy of having seen him. Yesterday, we all lived Easter. Today he is living his Easter,” added Pérez Bodria, trying to keep her composure.
“I have a beautiful memory of his time in Buenos Aires. We all feel that his teachings in Buenos Aires reached the world because Francis was the same Jorge Bergoglio that we had here in Argentina,” she said. EFE
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