In Buenos Aires, thousands of faithful pray for Pope Francis

By Miguel Lo Bianco and Claudia Martini

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Thousands of Argentines, many from poor neighborhoods around the capital, gathered on Sunday at a church on the outskirts of Buenos Aires to pray for Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized for more than a month.

Bearing drums, cymbals, flags and cans of holy water, Catholic believers and priests gathered at the imposing neo-Gothic Basilica of Our Lady of Lujan, Argentina's patron saint, to pray that Latin America's first pope recovers from pneumonia.

"Long live Pope Francis!" Father Jose Maria "Pepe" di Paola, a member of a local group of priests in poor neighborhoods, told the congregation. "This is how we should live the Church as Pope Francis teaches us, a poor church for the poor."

The latest Vatican medical reports suggest Francis' health is improving, but Rome's Gemelli hospital has not yet said when he will be discharged.

On Sunday, the Vatican released a photo of the pope breathing unassisted after receiving oxygen, the first photo of him it has released since he was hospitalized on February 14.

Francis, now aged 88, quickly shook the Catholic world with more lenient attitudes toward same-sex marriage, women's ordination and focus on global issues such as climate change.

Before he was elected to head the Catholic Church of 1.4 billion believers, 12 years ago, Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, had served as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires where his closeness to the poor earned him a nickname: "the slum pope."

"I pray for him to have a speedy recovery," 55-year-old housewife Dora Calvo told Reuters at the basilica. "I always pray to the little virgin of Lujan so she will protect him and cover him with her mantle."

"We were very worried at the beginning when his health worsened and they ended up hospitalizing him," added Walter Camaratta, 60. "We are following the latest information, the medical reports talk about slow but positive developments."

Pope Francis has yet to return to his home country.

(Reporting by Miguel Lo Bianco and Claudia Martini; Writing by Lucila Sigal and Sarah Morland; Editing by Diane Craft)