MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: CFK returns to the fold: attends Tedeum and read Francis de Assisi Peace prayer

The president at the Cathedral next to political figures

President Cristina Fernández, CFK, addressed on Sunday the crowd which had gathered in the historic Buenos Aires Plaza de Mayo to mark the anniversary of Argentina's May Revolution, calling on those present to remember all the people who helped create an independent nation.

 Earlier in the day she attended the traditional Tedeum at Buenos Aires cathedral signaling the improved relations of the Church with the president. Undoubtedly the charisma of the Argentine born Pope Francis has had much to do with this new relationship.

In her speech Cristina Fernandez also launched a plea for “national unity... with clear ideas and without aggression” during her speech, which was transmitted across Argentina via a national broadcast.

The head of state spoke in front of Government House accompanied by her cabinet of ministers, as the iconic City square heaved with thousands of militants in attendance to celebrate the landmark date.

“Here we are once more in this historic square which belongs to all Argentines, to celebrate a new anniversary for the nation,” CFK affirmed in her speech, adding that “without the people, there can be no revolution.”

“I want to focus on this word, revolution and May, because when we remember May 25 we only do so remembering a handful of patriots. But we forget the people, because the efforts of a handful of men do not build a nation; they can only do so accompanied by the people”.

In the morning for the first time the Argentine president attended the traditional Tedeum at Buenos Aires Cathedral. In previous years she had rotated in different provincial capitals, particularly since 2007 when her late husband and president, Néstor Kirchner clashed with Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.

Archbishop of Buenos Aires Mario Poli invoked the spirit of Pope Francis in an impassioned plea for dialogue, as he headed a Tedeum ceremony commemorating the May Revolution.

Cristina Fernandez sat alongside City Mayor Mauricio Macri and other political figures in the capital's Metropolitan Cathedral.

“When leaders of different sectors ask me for advice, my answer is always the same: dialogue, dialogue, dialogue,” Poli affirmed, paraphrasing his predecessor in Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio.

“The only way for people to move forward is through a culture of conciliation, in which everybody has something to contribute,” he explained. “Either we gamble on dialogue, on a culture of conciliation, or everyone loses.”

The last time the president attended the Tedeum was in 2006, while accompanying Néstor Kirchner as first lady. That was the last time a head of state joined the traditional religious ceremony in Buenos Aires.

The president’s return to the Tedeums highlighted the improved relations between the church and the government and not only that: the combative Cristina Fernandez read the Peace prayer during the service.

”Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love; when there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light, and where there is sadness, joy,” the President read.

Moved to tears, she continued reading St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer: “Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood, as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life”.