In Buenos Aires, thousands of faithful gathered to pray for the Pope
17/3/2025 5:53
Thousands of Argentines, many from poor neighborhoods around
the capital, gathered on Sunday at a church on the outskirts of
Buenos Aires to pray for Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized
for more than a month.
Bearing drums, cymbals, flags and cans of holy water,
Catholic believers and priests gathered at the imposing
neo-Gothic Basilica of Our Lady of Lujan, Argentina's patron
saint, to pray that Latin America's first pope recovers from
pneumonia.
"Long live Pope Francis!" Father Jose Maria "Pepe" di Paola,
a member of a local group of priests in poor neighborhoods, told
the congregation. "This is how we should live the Church as Pope
Francis teaches us, a poor church for the poor."
The latest Vatican medical reports suggest Francis'
health is improving, but Rome's Gemelli hospital has not yet
said when he will be discharged.
On Sunday, the Vatican released a photo of the pope
breathing unassisted
after receiving oxygen, the
first photo
of him it has released since he was hospitalized on
February 14.
Francis, now aged 88, quickly shook the Catholic world
with more lenient attitudes toward same-sex marriage, women's
ordination and focus on global issues such as climate change.
Before he was elected to head the Catholic Church of 1.4
billion believers, 12 years ago, Francis, born Jorge Mario
Bergoglio, had served as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires where
his closeness to the poor earned him a nickname: "
the slum pope.
"
"I pray for him to have a speedy recovery," 55-year-old
housewife Dora Calvo told Reuters at the basilica. "I always
pray to the little virgin of Lujan so she will protect him and
cover him with her mantle."
"We were very worried at the beginning when his health
worsened and they ended up hospitalizing him," added Walter
Camaratta, 60. "We are following the latest information, the
medical reports talk about slow but positive developments."
Pope Francis has yet to return to his home country.
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