At the cathedral mourners lined up to take photos of a framed photograph of the pope before a gilded altar. It was flanked by a papal tiara and a giant staff, meant to symbolize his pastoral work. In a notebook, they scrawled messages of condolences.
“He was just different,” said Diana Pallais, 56, a Nicaraguan who works for a software company, and was visiting Buenos Aires this week. “He believed we needed to understand each other and build bridges with gay people, with poor people, with immigrants. People who are being attacked by world leaders today.”
Norberto Rodríguez, 59, gripped a photo of Pope Francis that he had found on Facebook, printed and brought to the cathedral. He walked along the pews, extending the framed photograph so others could kiss it.
Mr. Rodríguez, 59, said he met the pope many years ago, before he became pontiff, after he delivered an outdoor Mass in a gritty part of Buenos Aires. He was living on the street at the time, lost and seeking direction.
“I gave him my hand,” he said. “He told me to follow God. That there may be bad times, but that you’re never alone.”
Camila de la Cruz, a 26-year-old studying to become a kindergarten teacher, brought two offerings for Francis to the cathedral: a rosary and stamps from San Lorenzo soccer club.
“He was a fan of San Lorenzo — the club was his home,” she said.
Even after becoming pope, Ms. De la Cruz said, he remained humble — always caring for the less privileged and preaching empathy. “He kept all of us in mind,” she said. “He never forgot Argentina. He never stopped praying for his country and his beloved San Lorenzo.”
Among Argentines, there were also those who criticized the pope for expressing views about Argentine society, including a rise in poverty, that many regarded as showing sympathy for left-leaning administrations.
“I think that because of his position he should have been more neutral,” said German Zabala, 42, an Uber driver. Still, “it’s a great loss,” he said, lamenting, like many other Argentines, that the pope never made it back to his native soil.
“It would have been a revolution for us,” Mr. Zabala said, “because we were waiting for him.”
