Argentines in Rome Pray for a Pope Who's One of Their Own

New York Times

04-03-2025

On Sunday evening, Mariarosa Cavañas lit a candle in front of a small chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Addolorata — the national church of Argentina in Rome — where a photo of Pope Francis was affixed on a dais next to a prayer for his good health. On the back wall of the chapel sat a small statue of Our Lady of Lujàn, the patron saint of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, and a prayer entrusting Francis to her care.
'I hope he gets better,' said Ms. Cavañas, an Argentine who works as a nurse auxiliary in Rome. She was among the dozens of faithful who had flocked to the church for a Mass that brings Rome's Argentine community together on the first Sunday of every month. This Sunday, their ailing compatriot Francis was very much on everyone's mind, and in their prayers.
Francis has been in a Rome hospital with pneumonia and other infections since Feb. 14. On Tuesday evening, the Vatican said that Francis' condition was stable after suffering two acute respiratory episodes the previous day.
'I am very sad, and I've been praying for him,' said Marcela Perez, who works for a institute that houses six nuns in Rome. 'All of Argentina is praying for the pope.'
Millions around the world have been offering prayers for Francis since he entered the hospital. But members of the Argentine community that meets at the church of Santa Maria Addolorata, built a century ago by Argentine bishops, said they felt particularly close to him.
About 1,200 Argentines live in Rome, according to the Rome-based IDOS study and research center, which tracks immigration in Italy. Aptly, the church is in Piazza Buenos Aires, which borders some of Rome's most well-heeled neighborhoods.
Dozens of get-well wishes were scribbled — nearly all in Spanish — in a guest book in the chapel. The Rev. Fernando Laguna, the church's rector, said it would be delivered to Pope Francis at the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli where he is being treated.
Before he became Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio used to occasionally say Mass at the church, recalled Mary Cuartas, a retired dentist.
'We always pray for the pope,' said Father Laguna, but the prayers have 'intensified' since Francis was admitted to the hospital. In front of the main altar, next to a statue of Our Lady of Lujàn, was another photo of Francis with the entreaty 'For the Health of the Holy Father.'
Francis remains closely attached to his native country. He is a fan of San Lorenzo, a Buenos Aires soccer team — though he hasn't seen a game on television for decades, having vowed to never again watch television after being 'deeply offended' by a 'sordid scene' he saw onscreen in 1990, he said in his autobiography, 'Hope.'
But he added that he was kept informed about the team thanks to a 'Swiss guardsman who leaves the results and league tables on my desk.' In 'Hope,' which was published in January, Francis recounts that he has kept in touch with several of his childhood friends, who often visit him if they pass through Rome.
'There's always a lot of Argentines around,' said Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister. 'He sometimes assumes a personal responsibility,' remaining in touch with Argentine clerics and nuns in far-flung places.
On a physically grueling 11-day trip to the Asia-Pacific region last September, Francis flew 600 miles to Vanimo, a remote outpost of Papua New Guinea, to spend an afternoon with a group of missionaries from Argentina and local Catholics. The priests served him mate, a traditional herbal drink that is common in South America.
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Francis has been in near nightly contact with a parish led by an Argentine priest in the enclave, although the calls became less frequent after he entered hospital.
Francis also hasn't lost his taste for Argentine food.
Angel Moavro, one of the owners of Baires, an Argentine restaurant in downtown Rome, said Francis' compatriots often came to buy homemade desserts to bring to the pope, including alfajores, a popular sandwich cookie, churros — 'which are Spanish but we eat them a lot in Argentina,' Mr. Moavro said — and budin de pan, a bread pudding.
Since his hospitalization began, Francis' normally outspoken voice had all but disappeared, save for short messages via Angelus prayers on Sundays, and it was sorely missed, said Mr. Moavro. 'We really need him these days' to help mediate, he said, referring to the explosive confrontation at the White House between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
'Certainly, once he's back he's going to have to take more care of himself,' he said.
Ms. Cuartas said she could hardly wait until Francis returned to Casa Santa Marta, the guesthouse inside the Vatican where the pope has chosen to live. But then, she added, 'he has to go visit Argentina.'
A visit, or rather lack there of, to his homeland has become a sore point for many Argentines.
John Paul II went to Poland, his native home, eight times during his papacy. Benedict XVI went to Germany, where he was born, three times. But in the 12 years of his papacy, Francis has not set foot in Argentina.
'A trip to Argentina is a pending subject,' said Elisabetta Piqué, an Argentine journalist and biographer of Pope Francis. She said she believed Francis had always felt that a trip home might be politically manipulated by whichever leader happened to be in charge at the time. 'So he's kept putting it off, and obviously this has created a lot of frustration in Argentina,' she said.
Another biographer, Austen Ivereigh, said Francis had told him that he wanted to go to Argentina only 'if the visit would be a source of unity and healing in a very fractured and divided society,' and that it remained unclear whether that would be the case. 'Argentina is famous for its polarized culture' he said.
'It's always been complex' to plan a trip to Argentina, Mr. Ivereigh said, adding that Francis also believed that other countries had needed a papal visit more than his native country.
After Mass on Sunday, as they do each month, the dozens of Argentine expats gathered in the church hall to eat empanadas made by volunteers.
Federico Gatti, who works in risk assessment for an American import export company, said the Argentine community in Rome saw Francis as one of their own. 'For us, it's as though our grandfather is ill, we want him to get better,' he said. 'So one prays, hopes he will get better, in the hope that he will regain his forces and the support of all the church on this path.'