In a ceremony in front of Plaza de Mayo, the new Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Monsignor Jorge Ignacio Garcia Cuerva took office as Archbishop of Buenos Aires: “As Pope Francis tells us, let’s dream big.” Two weeks ago he received the blessing of Pope Francis at the Vatican. Among those present is the president Alberto Fernández and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship, Santiago Cafiero. The governor of Santa Cruz also participated, Alice Kirchner.
“We cannot continue to feed fragmentation instead of hope“, sentenced the 55-year-old bishop.
Several bishops from different parts of the country participated in the ceremony. It all started at 2:00 p.m., with the profession of faith and the oath of fidelity from garcia cuerva. The apostolic nuncio, Miroslaw Adamczyk, delivered the archiepiscopal pallium that Pope Francis gave him on June 29 in Rome, as happened with the 28 new metropolitan archbishops appointed in the last year. Previously, the bells of the city’s churches rang as a greeting to the new archbishop.
In the first row, along with Fernández, Cafiero, Alicia Kirchner and Victoria Tolosa Paz, there was also the pre-candidate for Buenos Aires head of government for Together for Change, Jorge Macrithe Chief of Staff of the City of Buenos Aires, Felipe Miguel, Soledad Acuna and Federico Pinedo.
Alberto Fernández and Santiago Cafiero were present.
“I want to be the shepherd of all, especially of those most wounded sheep.of those sheep that suffer the most, especially those who feel excluded, marginalized and those who suffer the cross of the pain of the disease”, he expressed in a passage of his speech.
Cardinal Mario Poli dedicated a few words to him: “We know that you come from Jesus, confirmed by the Vicar of Christ, our Pope Francis. The laity, consecrated men and women, seminarians, priests and bishops of Buenos Aires wish you a welcome and may you have a long life of service to this Church that baptizes and celebrates the mystery of salvation”.
“I wish you what our dear pastor (Fernando) Maletti wished for everyone: we wish you the best, what God wants, because noor there is nothing better than what God wants for each of us. May you be very happy, as I was and much more surely. God bless you,” she added.
Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva emphasized: “How beautiful it is to be able to dream of a city with a place for everyone, although we are many! “Without excluded, forging the culture of encounter against the culture of discarding and indifference,” he added.
In his speech he quoted the song “La mesa” by the Carabajal brothers that says: “I would like that no one feels like a foreigner at my table, that it be everyone’s table, the territory of the meeting. Let it be a Sunday table, a table dressed as a party, where my friends sing hopes and sorrows”. “We cannot continue to feed fragmentation instead of hope.”he stressed and generated applause in the public.
He also referred to “the paralysis of intolerance and disqualification” that “does not let us walk to meet the other who, although he thinks and is different, deserves all my respect and consideration”. “We do not encourage deepening of the crackwhich I prefer to call a wound because it bleeds and hurts in the bowels of the town,” he asked.
Lastly, he thanked his family, who shared with him his time in the Buenos Aires suburbs, and he broke down when he remembered his past. He also spoke of Patagonia: “We don’t let the cold and the wind dampen our passion.” “I ask you not to let her betray me,” he implored.
Who is Garcia Cuerva?
García Cuerva is a religious native of Río Gallegos, formed with studies in Philosophy and Theology. He received his priestly ordination on October 24, 1997, the year that was the starting point of an extensive career within the Church.
The new cardinal primate of Buenos Aires He has a major in Church History, who studied at the Argentine Catholic University (UCA). But he is also a lawyerafter several years of study at the Catholic University of Salta.
The religious is accused of being part of the group of village priests, that he forms together with others who spread the word of the Bible in popular neighborhoods and escape the logic that the Church manages in general terms. And part of that merit is due to his experience working in the Buenos Aires suburbs.
For example, he was parochial vicar of Nuestra Señora de la Cava (1997-2005); parish priest of Santa Clara de Asís (2005-2014) y parish priest of Our Lady of Cava in Beccar, North Zone. He was also in charge of the Vice Presidency of Caritas Diocesan of San Isidro, regional adviser of the Prison Ministry and secretary of the Episcopal Commission of Prison Ministry of the Argentine Episcopal Conference.
In his experience as a religious also he was chaplain of several prisons in the province of Buenos Aires.and in 2017 Pope Francis named him Titular Bishop of Lacubaza and Auxiliary Bishop of Lomas de Zamora.
Two years later, on January 3, 2019, Francis named him Bishop of Rio Gallegos, position that he held until his new appointment.
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