Pope Francis, the Argentine pontiff who has never returned home

By Lucila Sigal

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentines have long waited for Pope Francis to visit the homeland he left in 2013 to become the head of the Roman Catholic Church. With his health delicate as he battles double pneumonia, the return seems increasingly unlikely now to happen.

Pope Francis, 88, has been in a critical condition due to a lung infection. His two weeks in Rome's Gemelli hospital is the longest stay of his papacy and underscores his frailty.

Francis has made more than 45 international trips during his papacy, including the first by any pope to Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, North Macedonia, Bahrain and Mongolia. 

But the one-time archbishop of Buenos Aires has never returned to Argentina.

"One of the great curiosities of his papacy was the fact that, unlike his predecessors, Francis never visited his native country," Jimmy Burns, author of the 2015 biography "Francis, Pope of Good Promise" said.

Burns said he believed Francis did not want to be seen siding either with the left-leaning Peronists or the conservatives in the country's polarized political environment.

"Any visit would try and be exploited by one side or the other, and he would unwittingly fuel those divisions," he said.

Many in Argentina anticipated a visit to the country shortly after Francis took office and visited Brazil. There was again chatter about a trip last year. But in both cases the visit never materialized.

Guillermo Marco, former spokesman for the pope when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, told Reuters it had been a "wasted opportunity" for Argentina. Francis, he said, had a "tango soul" - a reference to the music and dance that has its origins in the back streets of Buenos Aires.

"He would have liked to (come) if he could have made a simple trip, let's say, where he came to visit the people he loves and, I don't know, celebrate a mass for the people," said Marco, who retains a close relationship with Francis.

"But he is fully aware there is a whole network of supporters and detractors who are fighting over him."

In September, the pope told journalists he had wanted to go to Argentina, saying "they are my people," but that "various matters had to be resolved first."

Maximo Jurcinovic, a spokesman for the Argentine bishops' conference, said the Church was focused on praying for the pope's health and would not comment on other matters.

Marco said Francis had sounded tired when he spoke to him in late January.

"He is 88 years old and then you add to those 88 years the worries and pace of life that he tries to lead," he said.

"It's like he has a willpower, a spiritual strength that God gives him that makes his body do things, but his body is already telling him: 'I can't.' That's a bit what happened to him now."

'THE CHORUS IS DIVIDED'

During his papacy, the first ever by a Latin American pope, Argentina has been rocked by repeat economic crises and political volatility. The current government is led by President Javier Milei, who has helped stabilize the economy but implemented tough austerity measures. Milei once called Francis the devil's representative on Earth, though has patched things up since coming into office.

Some said Francis should have visited regardless of the political environment over the years.

"The chorus is divided. There are those who say that he should have come anyway because it would have helped close the political rift a little," said Sergio Rubin, Argentine journalist and co-author of papal biography "The Jesuit".

Rogelio Pfirter, ambassador to the Vatican from 2016 to 2019 and a one-time student of Bergoglio at a Jesuit school in Argentina, said Francis' drive to boost inclusivity in the Church had been the pope's priority.

"I have no doubt that everything Argentine and the homeland itself is something that has a special place in his head and in his heart," he told Reuters. But one of the pope's greatest legacies has been "making a papacy for everyone," said Pfirter.

"From the pope's perspective, it has probably been much more important to travel to the Pacific, travel to Africa, travel to some other Latin American countries than to visit regions where the Church already has a strong position."

Many of Argentina's faithful would still have liked to welcome Francis home and remember him as Bergoglio, born in 1936 in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrants.

"That the pope has not come until now hurts me, it hurts me a little," said Claudia Nudel, at a recent mass in Buenos Aires to pray for the pope's recovery.

Silvia Leda, 70, also at the mass, said: "I would have liked him to come, but I think the most important thing is what he can do for the world."

(Reporting by Lucila Sigal; Additional reporting by Horacio Soria and Lucinda Elliott; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Rosalba O'Brien)