Argentina's poorest celebrate Francis as 'slum pope'

[link to www.cp24.com]

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- For more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide, he's Pope Francis. For Argentina's poorest citizens, crowded in "misery villages" throughout the capital, he's proudly known as one of their own, a true "slum pope."

Villa 21-24 is a slum so dangerous that most outsiders don't dare enter, but residents say Jorge Mario Bergoglio often showed up unannounced to share laughs and sips of mate, the traditional Argentine herbal tea shared by groups using a common straw.

People here recall how the Buenos Aires archbishop ditched a limousine and would arrive on a bus to their little chapel; how he sponsored marathons and carpentry classes, consoled single mothers and washed the feet of recovering drug addicts; how he became one of them...


Pope Francis' "mission is now to go on a pilgrimage to all lands, to walk with the people, to lead a church that walks," said Mercedes Trovato, 24, a youth volunteer who wore a wooden cross around her neck.

The pope's sister, Maria Elena Bergoglio, said she is very confident that the pomp and protocol of the Vatican won't dent his lifelong humility. His message to Argentines to spend their money on charities instead of for trips to Rome to see his installation in the Vatican on Tuesday is a strong sign that he won't change, she said.

"That message ... makes me feel like he is still on the same path, that he hasn't been affected -- for the moment, at least," she said in an interview with The Associated Press at her home 25 miles west of downtown Buenos Aires. "There is no worse poison than power."

She added that her brother's preference "is for the poor, the weakest, the old, children."

"He has a clear preference for the poor," she said.

Nor did he ever express a desire to become pope, she said. "We would challenge him about it and he would say, 'Oh, please!"'

Bergoglio's friends say he's fundamentally shy. He hardly ever grants media interviews, preferring to speak from the pulpit. But he did agree to chat recently with Jaidr Flores, a 22-year-old host on the parish's Radio FM La 96.

"He was hesitant at first. But I convinced him, and at the end of the interview, he started laughing and said: "You did it! You got me on air!'" said Flores. "One day I went to visit him at his office and I was amazed to see how many pictures of the volunteers and recovered drug addicts from this community he had on his desk. He truly cares for us."