Pope Francis Teases Returning Home to Argentina Before Announcing New Archbishop of Buenos Aires

By Rick Martin May 26 2023, 23:43 PM EDT

Pope Francis Teases Return Home to Argentina Before Appointing New Archbishop of Buenos Aires — Before becoming Pontiff, Pope Francis was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He has not been home since becoming pope, though he might return home from the Vatican soon. FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images

Before becoming the Pontiff, Pope Francis was the archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina, and he had not been home since becoming the pope.

However, he teased about returning to his home country, Argentina, on Thursday, a day before he announced his new successor as archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Pope Francis has been teasing about returning to Argentina next year for a few months now. The first-ever pope from Latin America was at a forum with students when he told them about his plans to go back to Argentina, saying, "My idea is to go next year. We'll see if it's possible."

The next day he announced that 55-year-old Bishop Jorge Ignacio Garcia Cuerva would become the new archbishop of Buenos Aires, replacing the retiring Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli. Garcia Cuerva is currently the bishop of Rio Gallegos.

For the first 10 years of his papacy, the pontiff has kept his home country at arms' length, even though he is still very popular back home in Argentina. The Associated Press reported that he wanted to avoid getting drawn into the country's political polarization.

The main reason for announcing that he would return next year may be because his visit will happen right after the October presidential elections in Argentina.

A new president would have been sworn in by then, thus avoiding getting himself used for political purposes during the election period.

As for Garcia Cuerva, a canon lawyer who served as the chaplain in many Argentine prisons, he would be responsible for organizing the trip as the new archbishop of Buenos Aires and welcoming the pope back home.

Pope Francis was archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1998 to 2013, when he was elected to replace Pope Benedict XVI, who abdicated the papacy.

Pope Francis Clears Schedule After Getting a Fever

While the pope is considering returning home to Argentina next year, the Catholic News Agency confirmed that he caught a fever and was forced to clear his schedule on Friday.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, noted that the pope was in a "feverish condition," so he was not able to "receive [anyone] in audience this morning."

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's Secretary of State, told media outlet La Presse that Pope Francis was tired after having a "very busy day yesterday."

"They were telling me last night that he met with a lot of people, and in the context of this meeting with Scholas Occurrentes, he wanted to greet them all, and probably at some point the stamina fails," Parolin said.