Thousands of Argentines, many from impoverished 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 over a month. Catholic believers and priests, carrying drums, cymbals, flags, and cans of holy water, assembled at the grand neo-Gothic Basilica of Our Lady of Lujan, Argentina's patron saint, to pray for the recovery of Latin America's first pope from pneumonia.
Father Jose Maria "Pepe" di Paola, a member of a local group of priests working in impoverished areas, exclaimed to the congregation, "Long live Pope Francis! This is how we should live the Church as Pope Francis teaches us, a poor church for the poor."
Although the latest Vatican medical reports indicate an improvement in Francis' health, Rome's Gemelli hospital has not specified his discharge date. The Vatican recently shared a photo of the pope with an oxygen supply, the only image released since his hospitalization on February 14.
At 88 years old, Francis made significant waves in the Catholic world with his progressive views on topics like same-sex marriage, women's ordination, and global issues such as climate change. Before his papacy, 12 years ago, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, where his compassion for the poor earned him the nickname ""
"I pray for him to recover quickly," expressed 55-year-old housewife Dora Calvo to Reuters at the basilica. "I always pray to the little virgin of Lujan to protect him under her mantle." Walter Camaratta, 60, added, "We were very concerned at first when his health deteriorated and he was hospitalized. We are keeping up with the latest updates; the medical reports show slow but positive progress."
Pope Francis is anticipated to return to his home country soon.