The Argentines are crying the death of their compatriot Pope Francis, who served as archbishop of Buenos Aires and was known for working with the poor in the city before ascending to the top of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Argentine government has announced seven days of mourning for Francis, who died Monday at age 88.
“As Argentines, we are orphaned,” Javier Languenari told the AFP news agency to the AFP news agency outside the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires on early Monday. “He endured as much as he could.”
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 of Italian parents, Francis became the first Latin American pontiff in 2013 after his predecessor Pope Benedict resigned.
While navigating the Church through controversions, Francis emphasized the compassion for the least fortunate.
“The Pope of the poor has left us, the Pope of the marginalized,” Jorge García Cuervo, the archbishop of Buenos Aires on Monday.
“They insisted on building bridges, insisted that we live in the Universal Brotherhood. The Pope was our father, the father of the poor, the father of mercy. The best tribute that Argentines can pay Francisco is to join.”
Argentine President Javier Melei, who previously faced Francis and called him a “jerk” and “the representative of evil on earth”, also paid tribute to the late Pope.
“Despite the differences that seem lower today, having been able to know him in his goodness and wisdom was a real honor for me,” Milei wrote in X.
“I say goodbye to the Holy Father and I stay with all of us today dealing with this sad news.”
Melei’s right libertarism disagreed with Francis’s empathy message and the hug of the causes of social justice.
Even so, Francis called Melei to congratulate him after his electoral victory in 2023, and the Argentine president visited the Pope last year, acclaiming what he described as his “positive relationship.”
On Monday, former Argentine president Mauricio Macri described the Pope a religious figure of “incomparable stature.”
“His life was marked by the teachings he gave through his words, his commitment and his actions,” Macri wrote in a publication on social networks. “He himself, through his career, is a lesson for all.”
In informing from Buenos Aires, Teresa Bo de Al Jazeera said that many were not happy that Francis has never visited Argentina, while Pope, even thought he visited other countries in the continent.
“He never arrived in Argentina, and for many, there was a political message there. He didn’t want to be used politician,” he said.
Bo said the Argentines were proud in Francisco when he was chosen Pope for the first time, but his hug of progressive causes, including, allowed the priests to bless the same -sex couples, made him a “polarizing figure” and enraged the traditionalists in the church.
“Although the most progressive people in this country liked that message against injustice, against inequality, against capitalism, among other things, many others did not like,” Bo said.
Anyway, Bo added, his death will feel throughout the country.
“For many of the people I have spoken with, he was a man who tried to open the Church, who talked about inclination and humility, and that is something that many people in this country will remember,” he said.
The resident of Buenos Aires, Nicolas Córdoba, told the Reuters news agency that the death of the Pope “will really leave a mark of pain in people’s hearts.”
In an Argentina divided politically, some remembered the call of the late Pope for the country to join.
“Francis’s message was always for us to join, to contact the most needy,” Agustin Hartridge, a 41 -year -old lawyer told AFP.
“That candle that I turned on is a tribute to all who taught us.”