In Buenos Aires' poor neighborhoods, residents recall beers and chats with Pope Francis

By Lucila Sigal

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - In the impoverished Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa 21-24, 68-year-old painter Heriberto Ayala still remembers how Pope Francis, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an archbishop, came to visit regularly on the number 70 bus and break bread with locals.

He recalled one time sharing a beer.

"We had pitchers of cold water and beer. And I, you see, grabbed it and said, 'here you go, Father.' But instead of passing him water, I passed him the beer. He said, 'oh, how nice,'" Ayala reminisced with a chuckle.

Locals have been celebrating the discharge from hospital of Pope Francis. In recent weeks the 88-year-old pope has been battling the most severe health crisis of his 12-year papacy, an absence from public life that shone a spotlight on his frailty and age.

"We are all very pleased, very happy the pope is recovering," said Hector Novara at a church service in the capital on Sunday. "I identify with the pope as an Argentine, and for what he does in the world."

The Argentine pontiff is known for his informal style, rejection of pomp, and push to make the Roman Catholic Church more liberal and inclusive. Some have linked that back to his time visiting and preaching in poor barrios in his home country, later earning him the nickname of "papa villero", or slum pope.

Reuters spoke to half a dozen residents and churchgoers in those neighborhoods who all remembered the former archbishop of Buenos Aires as a simple man, who would arrive by bus with a briefcase and well-worn shoes. He would walk the streets, listening to locals while sometimes serving and sharing meals with them.

"He walked all over the neighborhood, sweating with us. I know him very well. He was kind, he would sit and drink mate with us," said 78-year-old Antonia Pesoa, referring to a popular local herbal tea.

"He helped us; he loved the humble people very much."

In Villa 21-24, part of the larger Barracas area, messy power lines crisscross the sky above colorful buildings and ramshackle homes made of corrugated metal and plastic. Here the pope's illness has led to a wellspring of prayer and support.

"For the residents of Villa 21, Pope Francis is part of the family," said Lorenzo "Toto" de Vedia, a priest of the Virgen de los Milagros de Caacupé parish in Barracas, adding that the neighborhood had been "deeply troubled" by his illness.

"Of course it's been 11 or 12 years since he left office to become pope, but we always feel him very close."

Francis is the first Latin American pope in history, though he has never returned to his native country since being made the head of the Church in 2013.

His attempts to modernize the Church and address sensitive issues such as the treatment of immigrants and global conflicts have led to clashes at times with conservatives. He has eschewed many of the trappings of his post, declining to move into the palatial apartments used by his predecessors and driving around Rome in a Ford Focus.

Rita Fernández, 70, called Francis "very down-to-earth" and remembered when he would visit her neighborhood over 20 years ago.

"We would all sit around the table to eat together, like a family," she said, adding that the locals would often ask Bergoglio why he wanted to be there.

"He would then say that he felt better here than in the cathedral."

When he was elected pope she was overwhelmed. "It was crazy, my God. An emotion we didn't know. Both the priest and I shed tears," she recalled.

Elba Castro, 83, also remembered Bergoglio coming to Villa 21 in his time as archbishop. She lamented that he had not returned to "see his children" since becoming pope, a decision that some have attributed to his desire to avoid getting caught up in Argentina's polarized political climate.

"It gives me a kind of pain," said Castro. "He was from here."

(Reporting by Lucila Sigal; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Rosalba O'Brien)