(ZENIT News / La Plata, 07.24.2025).- In the heart of La Plata, just steps from the city’s iconic cathedral, a 50-meter canvas of concrete has been transformed into a luminous homage to the first Latin American pope. On Saturday, July 26, at 5:30 p.m., civic life in the Argentine city will pause as locals and dignitaries gather in Plaza Moreno to unveil what organizers claim is the largest mural in the world dedicated to Pope Francis, who passed away in April after a twelve-year pontificate that left a deep imprint on both the Church and the global conscience.
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The ceremony, infused with civic pride and spiritual reverence, will be led by Archbishop Gustavo Carrara of La Plata, who will bless the image, alongside Mayor Julio Alak and a broad delegation representing every layer of the city’s cultural and institutional fabric. From orchestra performances to the presence of religious leaders, students, artists, and local luminaries, the event is shaping up to be more than a mural unveiling — it is a city’s act of collective memory and gratitude.
The mural’s creator, Martín Ron, is no stranger to large-scale urban art. Renowned for his hyperrealistic technique, Ron has transformed urban walls around the world into vivid portals of storytelling. But this piece, which stretches vertically up a building façade not far from the archdiocesan cathedral, carries particular emotional weight — both for the artist and for a nation that once called Jorge Mario Bergoglio its own.
At the center of the composition is a moment captured not by imagination but by history: a white dove, wings outstretched mid-flight, hovers as Pope Francis, smiling gently, extends his hand in its direction. The gesture is unmistakably Franciscan — simple, joyful, and imbued with quiet spiritual symbolism. The moment was first photographed in 2013, in the early days of his pontificate, and has since become emblematic of the pope’s message of peace and openness.
While the Vatican is home to centuries-old masterpieces, this towering fresco rising from the streets of La Plata serves a different purpose. It speaks not from the walls of a museum or basilica, but from the lived reality of a modern city — one shaped by the social conscience and pastoral style that Francis championed. In that sense, the dove and the pope together embody a call: to rise above division, to lift off from the ground, to carry hope forward.
For La Plata, the mural is more than an artistic achievement. It is a testimony of affection for a figure who, even from the heart of Rome, never ceased to speak in the accent of Buenos Aires, nor to champion the dignity of the forgotten.
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