Buenos Aires (Argentina), Apr 26 (AP) Thousands of mourners assembled outside the Buenos Aires cathedral where Pope Francis used to give homilies as archbishop to pay homage to the first Latin American pontiff as the funeral rites were unfolding in Rome.

Although the funeral Mass in St Peter's Square began around dawn in Buenos Aires, many Argentines woke up to follow the broadcast live.

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Hours later, a giant procession made its way to the capital's downtown square of Plaza de Mayo for an open-air Mass. The faithful filled the streets, some weeping openly as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Garcia Cuerva, gave his sermon while struggling to hold back his tears.

“We cry because we don't want death to win, we cry because our father has died, we cry because we already feel his physical absence in our hearts,” Garcia Cuerva said. “May our tears water our homeland.”

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Later Saturday, clergy will lead Francis' followers on a pilgrimage to key places across Buenos Aires where the late pontiff carried out his pastoral work, from the impoverished shantytowns on the city's outskirts where he helped build congregations to the public hospitals where he kissed the feet of people with AIDS and mental illnesses. (AP)

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