BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Grief-stricken Argentines massed at Buenos Aires Cathedral early Monday to collectively mourn their late pontiff, compatriot and hero, Pope Francis.

Street sweeper Javier Languenari was shooing early autumn leaves from the front of the neo-classical building, where then-Jorge Bergoglio once served as archbishop, when news of the pope’s death emerged.

“As Argentinians, we are orphaned,” said the 53-year-old, shaking his head. “He endured as much as he could.”

The 88-year-old’s passing was not a surprise. He had spent 38 days hospitalised with pneumonia and appeared frail in what would be his farewell public appearance on Easter Sunday.

But the death of Latin America’s first pope — the first non-European pope in more than a millennium — still hit hard.

At the cathedral door, a 78-year-old woman sat crying inconsolably as she held a plastic bowl to receive alms.

Others lit candles in quiet elegy.

For many in perennially crisis-stricken Argentina, Francis’ willingness to champion the poor, challenge governments and delight in everything from tango to soccer made him not just a religious guide, but a source of national pride.

Mourner Graciela Vilamia recalled seeing the pope receive the weeping mothers of those who disappeared during Argentina’s long and murderous dictatorship.

“I’ve known him for 30 years,” she said as if discussing a cherished friend.

In the stillness of the cathedral’s nave, mourners kneeled before a painting of the late pope, while others wiped away tears or waited silently to receive communion.

Current archbishop Jorge Ignacio Garcia Cuerva, led a mass in tribute to his predecessor.

“He has died: the pope of the poor, of the marginalised, of those whom nobody wants, of those whom many exclude,” he said.

“Yesterday, his final audience was with the vice president of the United States, and once again he shared his enormous concern for migrants.”

“He was a man who was consistent from the first day to the last.”

In his final years, Francis had often tussled with political leaders, including Argentina’s current libertarian president, Javier Milei.

But there was a rare sense of political unity on Monday in what is still a deeply polarised nation.

“Francis’s message was always for us to unite, to reach out to those most in need,” said Agustin Hartridge, a 41-year-old lawyer.

“That candle I lit is a tribute to all he taught us.”

Milei too acknowledged that his political differences with the late pontiff “today seem minor”, as he prepared to decree seven days of national mourning.