Pope Francis’s death has affected his motherland of Argentina, with an outpouring of grief in the South American nation. Source: Crux.
The most visible expressions of grief have come from the so-called villas de emergencia or villas miseria, as the Argentinians call their slums.
“Sadness is noticeable among the poorest social segments. He was an icon for the poor,” said Bishop Marcelo Margni of Avellaneda-Lanús.
Cesar Sanabria, a community leader at Villa 31, noted the atmosphere has been one of sorrow all over the region.
“We, the poor, had a fantastic connection with him. He knew how to talk and how to motivate us,” Mr Sanabria said.
After he was appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, in 1997, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became a frequent visitor of Villa 31 and other poor neighbourhoods. With his incentive, the movement of slum priests, created in the 1960s, gained strength.
“He knew our problems, because he frequently came to us and talked to us,” Mr Sanabria remembered.
The Church in Argentina plays a central role in providing charitable work for the poor. It keeps numerous social services in poor districts, distributing food, hot meals, medicines, and other goods.
Such a network grew during the Pope’s years as the capital city’s archbishop (1998-2013).
Carlos Custer, a long-time labour leader who was Argentina’s ambassador to the Vatican (2003-2008), said Cardinal Bergoglio’s solidarity with the poor was also noticeable in his defence of the dignity of the neediest in society.
“He would always criticise the current system’s inhumanity, defending those who have been discarded,” Mr Custer told Crux.
That stance would put Francis and current Argentine leader Javier Milei on opposite sides.
An ultra-libertarian economist, Mr Milei had been advocating for years a broad transformation of the country’s socioeconomic structure, with the goal of reducing the State’s presence economically and as a provider of relief aid.
Elected in 2023, Mr Milei put in practice his vision, taking economic measures that further debilitated the poor’s quality of living.
The President issued a statement on Monday lamenting the Pope’s death and praising his “goodness” and “wiseness”.
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Argentinians mourn their ‘Pope of the poor’ (By Eduardo Campos Lima, Crux)
