THE humility of Pope
Francis was on display yesterday during his first day as pontiff.
He stopped by his
hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill by himself in a decidedly
different style for the papacy usually ensconced inside the frescoed halls of
the Vatican.
The break from the
tradition-minded previous pontificate was evident even in Francis’ wardrobe
choices: He kept the simple pectoral cross of his days as bishop and eschewed
the red cape that Benedict XVI wore when he was presented to the world for the
first time in 2005 — choosing instead the simple white cassock of the papacy.
The former archbishop
of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, began his first day as pope making
an early morning visit in a simple Vatican car to a Roman basilica dedicated to
the Virgin Mary and prayed before an icon of the Madonna.
He had told a crowd of
some 100,000 people packed in rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square just after his
election that he intended to pray to the Madonna “that she may watch over all
of Rome.”
He also told cardinals
he would call on retired Pope Benedict XVI, but the Vatican said the visit
wouldn’t take place in a few days.
The main item on
Francis’ agenda yesterday was an inaugural afternoon Mass in the Sistine
Chapel, where cardinals on Wednesday elected him leader of the 1.2
billion-strong church in an unusually quick conclave.
Francis might be
expected to outline some of his priorities as pope in the homily. It was
expected to be delivered in Italian, again another break from the
traditional-minded Benedict whose first homily as pope was in Latin.
Francis urged the
crowd to pray for Benedict and immediately after his election spoke by phone
with the retired pope, who has been living at the papal retreat in Castel
Gandolfo South of Rome.
After the visit to St.
Mary Major, Francis also stopped by a Vatican-owned residence in downtown Rome
to pick up the luggage that he left behind before moving into the Vatican hotel
for the conclave.
He paid the bill “to
give a good example,” according to the Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico
Lombardi.
It was a remarkable
show of simplicity and humility for a man who could easily have dispatched
someone to do the job for him.
He displayed that same
sense immediately after his election, shunning the special sedan that was to
transport him to the hotel so he could ride on the bus with other cardinals,
and refusing even an elevated platform from which he would greet them,
according to Timothy Dolan, a United States (U.S.) Cardinal said.
“He met with us on our
own level,” Dolan said.
Later, during dinner,
the new pope addressed the cardinals and said: “May God forgive you for what
you have done.”
According to Lombardi,
Pope Francis also went into the main altar area of the basilica and prayed
before relics of the manger in Bethlehem where Jesus is believed to have been
born — an important pilgrimage spot for Jesuits
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