Plaza de Mayo, San Martin 27, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires
The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, a Neoclassical church with a striking twelve-column portico on the Plaza de Mayo, home to the tomb of General Jose de San Martin and the former parish of Pope Francis.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires does not look like a church from the outside. Its facade is a row of twelve Corinthian columns supporting a classical pediment with a relief of the meeting of Joseph and his brothers from the Book of Genesis — it looks like a Greek temple dropped onto the main square of an Argentine city. This was deliberate: the cathedral was rebuilt in the 1820s during a period of post-independence nation-building, and the architects wanted something that said 'republic' as loudly as it said 'church.' Inside, the long five-aisle nave is more conventionally Catholic — gilded altars, a carved wooden pulpit, tile floors in geometric patterns, and side chapels with colonial and nineteenth-century art. The most visited feature is the tomb of Jose de San Martin, the general who led the liberation of Argentina, Chile, and Peru, which sits in a side chapel with an eternal flame and military honor guard. For Catholics, the more significant connection is that Jorge Mario Bergoglio served as Archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1998 to 2013, saying Mass and hearing confessions in this building before becoming Pope Francis. He was known for taking the bus to work and slipping into the cathedral through a side door. The confession booths where he sat are still in use.
Diocese: Archdiocese of Buenos Aires
Style: Neoclassical (Greek Revival facade)
What to See
Start outside and take in the facade — the twelve columns and classical pediment are unlike any other cathedral in the Americas. Inside, San Martin's tomb is in the right-hand nave, guarded by soldiers in dress uniform; the eternal flame has burned continuously since 1880. The gilded main altar and the carved wooden pulpit are fine nineteenth-century work. Walk the side chapels for colonial-era statues and paintings. If you know Bergoglio's story, look for the confessionals — he made a point of being available there. The tile floors throughout are worth glancing at.
Pilgrim Notes
The cathedral faces the Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires' central square, reachable by Subte (metro) at the Plaza de Mayo station. The surrounding Microcentro district has restaurants, bookshops, and the Casa Rosada presidential palace. The cathedral is open daily with multiple Masses. Nearby, the Church of San Ignacio — the oldest church in Buenos Aires — is two blocks away. The Basilica of Our Lady of Lujan, Argentina's national Marian shrine, is about forty miles west of the city and can be visited as a day trip.