30 years after her death, Gilda embodies Argentina’s enduring faith in folk saints

CEIBAS, Argentina (AP) — Thirty years ago this Monday, Argentina was left stunned when a tour bus carrying a beloved cumbia singer, known by her stage name Gilda, collided with a truck. Miriam Alejandra Bianchi died at age 34, but she lives on in legend as a miracle-working folk saint.

At a chapel near the site of the accident, some fans knelt in prayer, emotion welling in their eyes. Others sang and danced raucously to her greatest hits.

During her life, Gilda was a nationally beloved singer of cumbia, a fusion of Latin pop and dance music that's hugely popular in Argentina.

Her fame only grew after her death. A posthumous album went double platinum as her propulsive songs reverberated beyond the heaving dance halls where she first captivated crowds, becoming national anthems of heartbreak and desire. Her fans, dressed in T-shirts that showed her in a shimmering blue dress and flower crown, began making pilgrimages to the crash site every year, sharing stories of Gilda appearing in their dreams and answering their prayers.

Like other Argentine folk saints, Gilda isn't formally recognized by the Catholic Church. But devotees ask her to carry their prayers to God much as Catholics invoke the church’s recognized saints, seeking healing, protection and help overcoming hardships.

On Monday, scores of Gilda’s devotees flocked to pay homage to her at the rusted wreckage of the tour bus, now preserved as a memorial off the national highway that skirts Argentina’s muddy Paranacito River. The bus overflows with flowers, stuffed animals, votive candles and handwritten appeals for help. A nearby chapel is crammed with the wedding gowns of women whose wish to marry was fulfilled after a visit, trophies and jerseys offered by champions whose athletic dreams became a reality, crutches discarded by those who could walk again, and police uniforms left by officers who earned promotions after praying to her.

“For me, it’s about faith — putting everything in God’s hands and asking Gilda to intercede,” said Julia Domínguez, 63, who credits Gilda with curing growths on her vocal cords nearly two decades ago, sparing her from a risky surgery and inspiring her to become a singer. “That was a miracle. Today, I sing thanks to her.”

The shrine, about a two-hour drive into the grasslands north of the capital, Buenos Aires, offered a glimpse of a centuries-old tradition of folk saints that runs deep in Argentina even as the influence of the Catholic Church wanes .

That erosion is one of the biggest challenges facing Pope Leo XIV as he plans his first tour as pontiff of South America — home to more than a quarter of the world’s Catholics. He's set to visit Argentina , Uruguay and Peru in November.

Travel the roads of Argentina and shrines to a growing pantheon of unofficial saints are everywhere: Red flags mark altars to Gauchito Gil, a 19th-century outlaw revered as an Argentine Robin Hood. Plastic water bottles pile up at shrines to Difunta Correa, who legend says miraculously nursed her infant son after dying of thirst in the desert. Even Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona has become an object of quasi-religious devotion .

“One of the most common things devotees tell us is that these saints accompany them every day of their lives,” said Cleopatra Barrios, an scholar of popular religion at Conicet, Argentina’s national scientific research body. “Miracles aren’t understood as they are from the institutional Catholic point of view, as something extraordinary. Here, they’re things that happen every day.”

As with other saints — folk and otherwise — part of Gilda’s appeal seems to stem from how relatable she remained even as her fame grew while she was still alive, singing cumbia in prisons and exchanging intimate, handwritten letters with fans.

“With everything that happens, I always ask her, ‘Accompany me,’” said Paola Martini, 46, who organizes trips to Gilda’s shrine from all over Argentina. “Then, like magic, I feel her.”

Catholic clergy haven’t directly discouraged devotion to folk saints, but have sought to steer followers' worship toward God. Two priests on Monday celebrated Mass at Gilda’s shrine, but made no mention of her status as a popular saint and urged devotees to keep God at the center of their faith.

As growing secularism and rival branches of Christianity siphon off Catholic faithful across the region, Leo has embraced the efforts of his Argentine predecessor , Pope Francis, to bring the church closer to ordinary people , particularly the poor .

A member of the Augustinian order , whose teachings emphasize service and community, Leo is expected to visit a Buenos Aires prison and a center for people with disabilities during his November trip, Argentine church officials told local media on Monday. There was no immediate confirmation of the pope’s itinerary from the Vatican.

“We’re waiting for Leo, we're preparing for him,” Domínguez said, insisting she saw no contradiction with her Roman Catholic faith in invoking Gilda to protect her. “In the end, sainthood isn’t always decided by the church. Sometimes, the people recognize it first.”