SÃO PAULO, Brazil – If the news concerning Pope Francis’s health problems is concerning Catholics all over the globe, in Argentina it is especially troubling.

There has been a “wave of love” to the pontiff – as a bishop call it – over the past few days in the South American nation.

Gatherings and rosary prayers for the pope’s recovery have been promoted all over Argentina, and everything was organized very quickly.

The Bishops’ Conference released as statement on Feb. 17 a statement asking “all communities to gather in prayer for Pope Francis’s health, asking the Lord to grant him a fast recovery.”

The invitation, which was signed by the conference’s president, Archbishop Marcelo Daniel Colombo of Mendoza, also asked for the intercession of Our Lady of Luján, the country’s patron saint.

“It was a matter of only 12 hours or so. The next day, Masses were being celebrated in distinct parts of Argentina with that intention,” Father Leonardo Silio of the Diocese of Merlo-Moreno – on the outskirts of Buenos Aires – told Crux.

Silio co-celebrated with local Bishop Juan José Chaparro a Holy Mass, a rosary prayer, and an eucharistic adoration in the diocese’s cathedral on Feb. 18.

“It was a great celebration. Of course, in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires there has been an enormous commotion,” Silio added, alluding to the fact that the Holy Father was a bishop and then the archbishop of the capital city between 1992-2013.

Indeed, current Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva has scheduled a massive celebration for the pope’s healing on Feb. 24 on a major Buenos Aires square. García Cuerva also released a public letter he sent to Francis on Feb. 17.

“Along with all the Church that pilgrimages in Buenos Aires, we ask Jesus our Good Shepherd that he accompanies you in this phase of recovery, so you, strengthened, can keep serving the Church in the whole world in the exercise of the ministry that God himself entrusted you and that you, with so much love and dedication, has been putting forward,” the letter read.

García Cuerva concluded the document by saying that “in all celebrations of the Eucharist those days we will pray especially for your health and your intentions, entrusting you to the Holy Virgin.”

Bishop Sergio Buenanueva of San Francisco, in the province of Cordoba, told Crux that people began to pray for the pope spontaneously as the news on his pneumonia arrived.

“I’ve been celebrating the Mass at the cathedral everyday over the past few days and it’s possible to notice the same people are there asking for the Pope,” he said.

Buenanueva told the priests of his diocese earlier this week to include the prayers for the pontiff in the intentions of all celebrations.

“People have a natural connection with him. They think: ‘He’s one of us, he came from this land, he was a priest and a bishop here and that’s how he arrived at Peter’s see’,” Buenanueva said.

But there’s also a dimension of faith, he added, “a perspective that goes beyond the Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio and identifies him to the vicar of Christ.”

“That’s refreshing, because that’s how the Catholic faith reactivates itself in an intense way among the Catholic communities and in our hearts. We’re praying for the vicar of Christ,” Buenanueva added.

Bishop Pedro Torres of Rafaela, in Santa Fé province, described how the pope’s health has become a frequent theme of conversation among people on the streets over the past days.

“At first, some people didn’t believe that his case was so serious. But then the news on his pneumonia arrived and worried everybody. Prayers for him have been continuous,” Torres told Crux.

He said people have been “tranquil,” praying for the Holy Father without despair, and that many appeared in the Church to thank him for things he has done.

“There has been a wave of love for the pope. Gestures of people praying for him and offering something to help have been growing,” he said.

Among the dioceses and ecclesial groups that have been praying for the pope are the team of curas villeros (slum priests, who usually live and work in a poor community) and the Hogares de Cristo (Christ’s Homes), who work with drug users. Those groups, which used to have great closeness with Bergoglio in his Buenos Aires’ days, have been organizing a triduum of Masses.

Father Leonardo Silio said not any pope, but this specific pope, is still needed.

“We need him to keep being our voice, especially now that we live such difficult times, with war and injustices,” the priest said.