Navarrosa, who is currently writing his thesis on the pope’s 2016 encyclical 'Amoris Laetitia,' recalls meeting Francis in 2021 and says he had hoped to meet him again. “I’m not worried about the future of the church, because it is guided by the Holy Spirit,” he says.

A woman holds a photo of the late Pope Francis during an inter-religious Mass in honor of the late pontiff at the Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) A woman cries during an inter-religious Mass in honor of the late Pope Francis at the Cathedral in Buenos Aires,

Argentines long waited for Pope Francis to visit the homeland he left in 2013 to become the head of the Roman Catholic Church. With his death on Monday at the age of 88 after a long illness, those hopes for his return end unrealized.