The faithful were not sleeping last night in Buenos Aires! In fact, thousands of them were standing in the cool summer air—gathered in the Plaza de Mayo, the main square of Buenos Aires, expecting to watch the new Pope’s inaugural Mass.

And what a surprise they got! At 7:32 a.m. Rome time (3:32 a.m. in Argentina), the loudspeakers in the Plaza began broadcasting the familiar voice of their shepherd, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Clarin, an Argentine newspaper, reported that the Pope had placed a call to Fr. Alejandro Russo, rector of the cathedral. The archdiocesan television centre was then able to patch the call through to Plaza de Mayo, so that the Pope could speak directly to the crowds gathered there.

“Dear sons and daughters,” Pope Francis said in greeting to his former parishioners, “I know you have gathered in the square. I know that you are saying prayers, I need them very much. It is beautiful to pray because we look to heaven and know that we have a good Father who is God.”

The Vatican Information Service reports the rest of the Pope’s remarks: