FROM SLUMS TO VATICAN

Pope Francis has made the surprise choice of lifelong slum priest and Río Gallegos bishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva, 55, to replace Buenos Aires Cardinalarchbishop Mario Poli, 75, whose resignation he accepted the day after Poli gave his last national day Te Deum in the Metropolitan Cathedral on May 25. Born in Río Gallegos, García Cuerva was ordained in 1997 following university studies in Church history and law, but spent much of his clerical career in the San Isidro shantytown of La Cava and also as a prison chaplain before being named by Francis to the Río Gallegos diocese early in 2019. One of his first challenges will be to organise the papal visit expected next year. In an interview published Wednesday the new archbishop denied being Kirchnerite despite his Santa Cruz connections and shantytown work while recognising efforts to pigeonhole him as such.