Italian cardinal Angelo Sodano (right) makes Pope Francis wear the Fisherman’s Ring during his inaugural mass in Vatican City, yesterday.
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis donned the symbols of papal power and vowed to embrace the “poorest” of humanity yesterday at a grand inauguration in the Vatican as leader of a troubled Roman Catholic Church.
Some 200,000 pilgrims cheered Latin America’s first pontiff in St Peter’s Square, waving flags from around the world as Francis promised that his would be a “lowly, concrete and
faithful” papacy.
His voice raised for emphasis, the 76-year-old Francis said a pope must “embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important.”
Francis has faced immediate calls to reform the intrigue-filled Roman Curia, the administration of the Church, and take action on the issue of the abuse of children by priests that has been hushed up for decades.
The Argentine Pope, who became a voice for the poor during his homeland’s devastating economic crisis, has indicated he will be a strong advocate for the dispossessed in an austerity-hit Europe.
Vatican experts have said he will also pursue a more inclusive “collegial” style of leadership together with the cardinals and bishops. The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has however been a staunch defender of Catholic orthodoxy on issues such as abortion and “queer” marriage, as well as priestly celibacy.
Francis toured a sun-drenched St Peter’s Square in an open-top car to cries of “Long live
the Pope!”
But Riccardo Monteverde, a 32-year-old working in a homeless shelter in Rome, said he would wait and see whether Francis would live up to expectations.
“We’ve heard a lot about how Francis wants to help the poor. Only time will tell whether things really will now change for the better,” he said.
At the ceremony, the 265th successor to St Peter received from his cardinals the papal pallium — a lambswool strip of cloth that symbolises the Pope’s role as a shepherd and has red crosses to represent the wounds of
Jesus Christ.
The “Fisherman’s Ring” bestowed on him by Angelo Sodano, dean of the college of cardinals, is a personalised signet ring traditionally worn by Popes in honour of St Peter — a fisherman.
“With Pope Francis, the Church will be closer to the people and to the modern world,” said Rodrigo Grajales, a 31-year-
old Colombian priest.
Some pilgrims wrapped themselves in the Argentine flag and some Brazilian nuns held up a sign reading: “Go Francis! We Will Be With You Wherever
You Go!” The son of an Italian immigrant railway worker, Francis has won hearts in Rome with an informal style which contrasted with yesterday’s pomp.
The Vatican said 132 foreign delegations attended.
Bergoglio was the surprise choice at last week’s conclave of cardinals to replace 85-year-old Benedict XVI, who last month brought a sudden end to a papacy that had often been overshadowed by scandal, saying he was too old to carry on.
He was the first Pope to resign since the Middle Ages.
Francis has called for a “poor Church”, warning the world’s cardinals against pursuing worldly glories and saying that without renewal the Church would crumble “like a sand castle”. AFP
