The town of Buenos Aires wants a pope in Francis’s spirit
He crosses the yard that addicts use to take his drugs in privacy.
« Papa Francis cared about those who were at the bottom, » says the priest, stepping over the rails in their leather sandals.
Some cannulas are further away. Nacho Bagattini is in a hurry. He is delayed to the fair which starts in a few minutes in one of the seven chapels of the town.
– Those who live here are the most vulnerable. It is they, more than anyone else who needs the church’s care, he says.
It is almost full in the chapel. Padre Nacho pulls on his fair shake and lifts down the portrait of Pope Francis from the wall and puts on the altar. Several times when Francis was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he visited Villa 31, which is the capital’s largest town with 55,000 inhabitants. It is squeezed between the Retiro and the Harbor Central Station.
– Let’s pray for Papa Francis and the Konklaven, says Padre Nacho.
The congregation snaps their hands.
Last year, on May 11, it was supposed that Francis would visit Villa 31. The idea was that the Pope would honor the 50th anniversary of Carlos Mugica, a legendary town priest who founded the Catholic Work Assembly Cristo Obrero in Villa 31 in the late 1960s. He was murdered on May 11, 1974 by a member of the terrorist organization Alianza Anticomunista Argentina.
Padre Nacho traveled to Rome to talk to the Pope before the 50th anniversary. It would be his first visit to Argentina as Pope.
– To facilitate, we thought he could land by helicopter on the parish hall’s football field, but he was scratchy already then and did not dare to travel.
The town priest wants the Konklaven to choose a liberal pope, but at the same time he is aware of the conservative forces within the Catholic Church.
– All institutions have power struggles and intrigue. It is not possible to get away. Such is man. What speaks to the advantage of the liberal phalanx is that 80 percent of the cardinals to vote have been appointed by Francis. He still has influence.
On one of the towns Artificial turf, which Pope Francis has financed, has been built up a square boxing ring. A twenty -year -old girl from Villa 31 wins over a girl from the suburb. One of those who cheers the most is Cristina González, 50. She is a friend of the boxer’s mother and was 33 years old when she first met Francis. He was an archbishop of Buenos Aires and blessed the abusers of the town.
– I hadn’t seen anything like it. He washed the abusers’ feet and kissed them. For me, it was a decisive factor. It made me try to stop soup, says Cristina González.
She has been sober for over ten years and has regained contact with her sons who are 24 and 25 years old.
– I have a lot to thank Papa Francis for.
She hopes that the Konklaven chooses the 67-year-old Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.
– He is said to be an Asian version of Francis. We need someone who cares about the most excluded. About the prostitutes, about the addicts.
A young guy on Motorcycle progresses through the alley in the town without a helmet. On one cheek he has a tear tattooed. It is a symbol that shows that he has killed someone or lost a close relative in gang violence. In another alley, an addict threads a hood over his head and tries to rob DN’s photographer on his camera. Our guide, who is a former addict, saves the photographer from the situation.
– When you are in the abuse, you do not think. You just want money for the next drug, explains the guide Claudio Fleitas, 46.
He has been clean for three years, but constantly feels the craving. In order to stay away from his drug acquaintances in Kåkstaden, he lives in the parish hall on the outskirts of Villa 31. He works as an assistant for the Kåkstad priest Nacho.
– The fact that the church is present is extremely important. We addicts have a hard time quitting. We need an outstretched hand once we have decided, says Claudio Fleitas.
He started using drugs to forget that he was abused by his father during his upbringing.
– Papa Francis saw how vulnerable we were. He saw man in us.
He is supported by one of the other parish assistants who have also been addicts.
– For me, they are happy to choose an Argentine again. We need a new Francis, says Adrián Ortoño, 54.
When I mention that I do not think it is likely that the conclave will choose two Argentine on the rake, he giggles at me.
– We have been pardoned with both Maradona and Messi. Why couldn’t we have two Argentine popes too?
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Great interest in beating what is becoming pope
Here the Sixtinian chapel is prepared for the Konklaven – the chimney in place
