LAZIO, Rome — As Pope Francis rested off ventilation, his condition showing signs of slight stability, those who have known the 88-year-old Argentine pontiff came to a realization that in his 12 years of being the leader of the more than 1.3 billion Catholics around the world, he has never returned home to his native Argentina.

Now hospitalized for a lingering respiratory illness which began when he was young man in his home country and a part of one of his lungs was removed following a pulmonary infection, which left him vulnerable to respiratory illnesses.

The Pope, whose real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has been at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli (Gemelli University Hospital) in the Lazio district in Rome since February 14 (the current year). His more than two weeks in the hospital is the longest stay of his papacy and underscores his frailty and with his health delicate, his return now seems increasingly unlikely to happen.

However, in Buenos Aires, Argentinians have expressed sadness because they have long waited for Pope Francis to visit the homeland he left in 2013 to become the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

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. Despite this, though, the one-time archbishop of Buenos Aires has never returned to Argentina.

This has been documented by Jimmy Burns OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire(), author of the 2015 biography Francis, Pope Of Good Promise: “One of the great curiosities of his papacy was the fact that, unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis never visited his native country.” Burns opined that he believes the pontiff did not want to be seen as 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,” the award-winning author and journalist enthused.

Many in Argentina had anticipated a visit shortly after Francis took office as the first Jesuit pope and visited Brazil. There was again chatter about a trip in 2024. But in both cases, the visit never materialized.

Father Guillermo Marco, a former spokesman for the Pope, told Reuters that it has 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.

The Argentine priest, who maintained a close relationship with Francis,
hinted that “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. But he is fully aware there is a whole network of supporters and detractors who are fighting over him.”

Last September, the Pope told journalists he wanted to go to Argentina, saying “they are my people”, but that “various matters had to be resolved first.”

And now with his worrisome health condition, it appears that his return to Argentina is at its remotes possibility to happen. Still, the Catholice Church is focused on praying for his health even as speculations increase that he may soon retire from apostleship.