Based on initial macropod's idea from the other thread I referenced in my first post, I found a trick that works. Ok, it may not be ideal, but it does work, and that's all I am asking!
Dim aFN As Footnote
Dim nRef As String
For Each aFN In ActiveDocument.Footnotes
With aFN
With .Reference.Characters.First
.Collapse
.InsertCrossReference wdRefTypeFootnote, wdFootnoteNumberFormatted, aFN.Index
nRef = .Characters.First.Fields(1).Result
.Characters.Last.Fields(1).Delete
MsgBox nRef
End With
End With
Next aFN
If anyone has a better and cleaner idea than inserting and deleting the reference next to the original one, I'd like to hear it, but it seems that this same request is not quite knew and has already hit many walls (I just found while googling similar key terms that many people have asked the same question over the past 10 years, without finding any real solution)...
Now, even though he hasn't participated to this thread yet, I'd like to thank macropod for leading me to a working solution! The "insert" method he offered in the other post was a clever way to bypass the issue...