Lisbon, April 22, 2025 (Lusa) - The Socialists in Lisbon City Council on Tuesday supported the proposal to name the Tagus Park after Pope Francis, but warned against abandoning the space, and Loures City Council said it would formalise the name next week.
Following the death of Pope Francis on Monday at the age of 88, the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD), on the sidelines of a mass in honour of the leader of the Catholic Church, said that he will propose to the government that Parque Tejo be renamed Parque Papa Francisco.
Lusa questioned the office of Carlos Moedas, who governs Lisbon without an absolute majority, about when the proposal will be discussed at a town hall meeting, including whether it will be at Wednesday's public session, but the answer was that it hasn't been scheduled yet.
Located on land in the municipalities of Lisbon and Loures, totalling around 100 hectares, Parque Tejo was born after the transformation of a rubbish dump, the Beirolas landfill, into a green park.
Parque Tejo was one of the stages for World Youth Day (WYD) in August 2023, which Pope Francis attended and brought together around 1.5 million people.
Reacting to Carlos Moedas' proposal, the PS councillor in Lisbon said that he “couldn't help but agree with a fair tribute to the Pope who visited Portugal twice, who hosted WYD in Lisbon”. Still, it stressed that he would prefer significant intervention in the area, “so as not to baptise a wasteland with his name”.
Livre councillor Rui Tavares said in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency that "the mayor of Lisbon is treating a serious matter with disregard." He pointed out that the rules of toponymy state that in order to change the name or rename a street in the city, "you have to wait five years after the person's death."
"Livre and all the other parties have heard this enough throughout this mandate. Of course, the rules include exceptions, but we have to think about them together, and it's disrespectful to Pope Francis that the mayor of Lisbon hasn't started this discussion with all the councillors," said Rui Tavares.
The municipal regulation states that "the attribution of a place name should only take place five years after the death of the personality, and this guideline may, on a very exceptional and duly substantiated basis, not be respected".
The councillors from Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition) indicated that the concern, "beyond the name, goes to the use and state of the space" of Parque Tejo, emphasising that the proposal to give the place the name Parque Papa Francisco has not yet been discussed.
Also, without formal knowledge of the proposal's terms, the PCP said that it was not opposed to Pope Francis' name being given to Parque Tejo but argued that “it's important to transform the green park into a real green park.”
The communists added, "This is a large space with no tree cover," and it is necessary to plant “not only trees but also equipment, leisure areas, and toilets."
Lusa also questioned the BE councillors and is still waiting for a response.
Since each town council has autonomy to decide on its territory, the Loures council, chaired by Ricardo Leão (PS), plans to formalise the name of Parque Papa Francisco at its ordinary meeting on 30 April.
"The Loures City Council has always shown, in all its references to the park, that this would be the name. Even before WYD took place, it referred to the park as Pope Francis Park, 'a source from Ricardo Leão's office told Lusa, adding that proof of this is the two billboards in the area advertising the “Future Pope Francis Park”.
The new green park in Loures was due to be inaugurated in February this year, but that didn't happen because the work is still going on, said the same source, without saying when it was expected to be finished.
On the Lisbon side, which hosted the 10th edition of Rock in Rio in June 2024, the council said in August that the green park had been completed and would undergo "various improvements" to improve the enjoyment and comfort of the population.
Connecting the two municipalities in Parque Tejo is a cycle-pedestrian bridge over the River Trancão, which was also built as part of the WYD.
Without a prior vote by the government, the mayor of Lisbon announced after WYD that the bridge would be called the Cardinal Dom Manuel Clemente Bridge, which caused controversy.
A petition to "change the planned name" gathered more than 17,000 signatures, and the cardinal-patriarch of Lisbon himself ended up refusing the honour, because he didn't want "the attribution to be a cause of division, or for anyone to feel offended".
After that, there were several proposals to name the bridge, including the Lisbon Animal Welfare Ombudsman suggesting Ponte Noé and the PAN municipal group proposing the name of São Francisco de Assis, and the idea of a public consultation process between the two municipalities - Lisbon and Loures - to choose the name, but after more than a year, the bridge has still not been named.
Also in August 2023, a petition was created to appeal to the mayors of Lisbon and Loures "to officially name the Tejo-Trancão Urban Park the Pope Francis Park, thus commemorating this unique event for both cities".
Born in Buenos Aires, Pope Francis died on Monday, aged 88, of a stroke after 12 years as pontiff, his last public appearance having taken place on Easter Sunday in the Vatican, the day before he died.
Portugal decreed three days of national mourning.
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