Pallade Veneta - 'Like orphans': Argentina mourns loss of papal son

When news of the pope's death emerged, street sweeper Javier Languenari was clearing early autumn leaves from the front of the neo-classical building, where the pontiff -- then known as Jorge Bergoglio -- served as archbishop for 15 years.

"As Argentinians, we are orphaned," said the 53-year-old, shaking his head. "He endured as much as he could."

The 88-year-old's passing was not a surprise. He had spent 38 days hospitalized with pneumonia and appeared frail in what would be his farewell public appearance on Easter Sunday.

But the death of Latin America's first pope -- the first non-European to hold the position in more than a millennium -- still hit hard.

At the cathedral door, a 78-year-old woman sat crying inconsolably as she held a plastic bowl to receive alms.

Others lit candles in quiet elegy. Early morning commuters stopped to cross themselves.

For many in perennially crisis-stricken Argentina, Pope Francis's willingness to champion the poor, challenge governments and the church itself, and delight in everything from tango to football made him not just a religious guide, but a source of national pride.

Mourner Graciela Vilamia recalled seeing the pope receive the weeping mothers of those who disappeared during Argentina's long and brutal dictatorship.

"I've known him for 30 years," she said as if discussing a cherished friend.

In the stillness of the cathedral's nave, mourners kneeled before a painting of the pontiff, while others wiped away tears or waited silently to receive communion.

Current archbishop Jorge Ignacio Garcia Cuerva led a mass in tribute to his predecessor, followed by a packed evening service at the Basilica San Jose de Flores, site of Bergoglio's spiritual awakening.

"There is sadness because loss overwhelms us, darkness. It's night because we feel like orphans," he told the faithful.

"But (Bergoglio's) life and teaching continue to be a light, a beacon," he added.

"The pope who put his foot down... always alerted us to our brothers on the side of the road," yet he was also "the pope of joy," the archbishop said, to cries of "Viva Francisco!"

- 'Be a little Francis' -

In his final years, Pope Francis had often tussled with political leaders, including Argentina's current libertarian president, Javier Milei.

"Francis's message was always for us to unite, to reach out to those most in need," said Agustin Hartridge, a 41-year-old lawyer.

"That candle I lit is a tribute to all he taught us."

Milei, too, acknowledged that his political differences with the late pontiff "today seem minor," as he prepared to decree seven days of national mourning.

Cuerva, the archbishop, recalled how Francis launched into effervescent sermons from the same cathedral, supporting the oppressed and the marginalized and causing successive governments to squirm.

"Now we're all going to have to be a little Francis, to be more merciful to one another," he urged.

As the day progressed, a small football altar materialized, complete with jersey and banners in the red and blue of San Lorenzo, the pope's boyhood club. "He has always been one of us," the club said Monday.

For the faithful and non-religious alike, a perceptible sense of solidarity and gratitude for a local man who became a global advocate for migrants and a pioneer in pushing for a more inclusive Catholicism.

"For years I went to church, then I moved away because being gay wasn't easy," Ana Aracama, a 22-year-old student, confided to AFP.

But Pope Francis "made us feel like children of God again, not sinners doomed to hell for being born a little different," she said.

"For me, Jorge is that... It has marked my life."

C.Grillo--PV