Pope Francis makes spontaneous displays on first Sunday
This handout picture released by the Press office shows Pope Francis waving to the crowd at St Peter's square during his first Angelus prayer at the Vatican on March 17, 2013. /AFP PHOTO/OSSERVATORE ROMANO
Updated 10:02 a.m. ET
VATICAN CITY Breaking with tradition, Pope Francis delivered off-the-cuff remarks about God's power to forgive instead of reading from a written speech for the first Sunday window appearance of his papacy.
He also spoke only in Italian — beginning with `'buon giorno" (Good day) and ending with `'buon pranzo" (Have a good lunch) — instead of greeting the faithful in several languages as his last few predecessors had done.
His comments and humor delighted a crowd of more than 150,000 in St. Peter's Square, drawing cheers and laughter.
In just five days, Francis' straightforward, spontaneous style has become immediate hallmark of his papacy.
Earlier Sunday, he made an impromptu appearance before the public from a side gate of the Vatican, startling passers-by and prompting cheers, before delivering a six minute homily — brief by church standards — at the Vatican's tiny parish church.
Before he entered St. Anna's church to celebrate Mass, he heartily shook hands with parishioners and kissed babies.
After Mass, Francis put his security detail to the test as he waded into the street just outside St. Anna's Gate. As the traffic light at the intersection turned green, Francis stepped up to the crowd, grasping outstretched hands. The atmosphere was so casual that several people even gripped Francis on the shoulder.
A few minutes later as the traffic light turned red, Francis ducked back inside the Vatican's boundaries to dash upstairs for the window appearance from the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace.
The studio window was opened for the first time since Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, gave his last window blessing on Sunday, Feb. 24. Four days later, Benedict went into retirement, the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years.
Francis, the first pope from Latin America, was elected on March 13. He has been staying in a hotel on the Vatican's premises until the papal apartment in the palace is ready.
Francis described to the press earlier how was comforted by his friend, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, as it appeared the voting was going his way and it seemed "a bit dangerous" that he would reach the two-thirds necessary to be elected.
"He hugged me. He kissed me. He said don't forget about the poor," Francis recalled. "And that's how in my heart came the name Francis of Assisi," who devoted his life to the poor, missionary outreach and caring for God's creation.
In keeping with his reputation as a man of the people, Francis has been avoiding ostentatious events, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports from Vatican City.
When the huge papal apartments were opened for him, he remarked that there was "room enough for 300 people" and there was no need to redecorate.
A picture showed him trying to pay the bill at the hotel he stayed in before going into the conclave that elected him as pope.
Hundreds of extra traffic police were deployed Sunday morning to control crowds and vehicles, for it was also the day of Rome's annual marathon.
Bus routes were rerouted and many streets were closed off in an attempt to channel the curious and faithful up the main boulevard from the Tiber river to St. Peter's square.
Giant video screens were set up so the huge crowd could get a close-up look at Francis, and dozens of medical teams were on hand for any emergencies.
After the Mass, the pope stepped out jauntily from St. Anna's Church and waved to a crowd of hundreds kept behind barriers across the street, and then greeted the Vatican parishioners one by one. One young man patted the pope on the back — an indication of the informality that has been evident from the first moment of his papacy.
"Francesco! Francesco!" children shouted his name in Italian from the street. As he patted one little boy on the head, he asked "Are you a good boy?" and the child nodded.
`'Are you sure?" the pope quipped.
In his homily, Francis said the core message of God is "that of mercy." He said God has an unfathomable capacity to pardon and noted that people are often harder on each other than God is toward sinners.
TillMidnight replies: linkicon reporticon emailicon Honestly, are you guys idiots or do you just hate faithful Catholics so much that you're blind and can't read the English language? "Actually, the truth is that they're giving to more than their churches," he says. "The religious Americans are more likely to give to EVERY kind of cause and charity, including explicitly NON-RELIGIOUS charities." I don't know how much more clear I could make it unless I spoon fed you. Man, you guys are such sophomoric simpletons. You refuse to recognize the truth even when it's spelled out for you. Too bad for you. The fact is that atheists do not give anywhere near as much money and time to charities and the poor as do Christians. Deal with it and get over yourselves.
______________
I think you need to work on your reading comprehension before posting here again.
Today's address in italian reminds me that Argentina,his homeland, and Brazil and Peru do not speak spanish as many of the news media have been saying to make their stories seem bigger(also called lying). This spoke has spoke these languages to me: english,italian,german,portugeese and 2 or 3 different dialects close to spanish. I did most of the help in learning english,american actually.
Christians give far far more to charity and to the poor than atheists like you.
______________________
(Credible) source please?
TillMidnight says:
And you know you cannot buy your way in heaven.
So, what are you saying? That Christians are the ones trying to buy their way into heaven? Well, I guess that makes sense since it was only recently that the RCC stopped selling indulgences.
In Connecticut the Catholic church is the 2nd largest supplier of social services and medical services behind the state. Services are provided by volunteers in many cases, paid for by donations and are provided at much less expense than the government could provide. Just check the archdiocese budgets vs the states.
We're tired of that same old cut-and--paste comment, jschm2681.
Never mind that it has nothing to do with the actually subject at hand. (Which, since you have trouble reading, was the source for the "fact" that "Christians" (nobody said anything about catholics) give more to charity than "atheists."
Besides, what I think would be the more interesting statistic is what *percentage* of their overall wealth do atheists versus "Christians" give to charity.
Of course "Christians" give more overall, since there are vastly more people that call themselves "Christians" than those who admit they are atheists.
Okay, it's nice, maybe, to see someone put a much more human face on the papacy.
However, there is a glaring dichotomy to my eyes, here.
He walks out the front of a church and stops to talk to random people on the street, but when he calls a press conference for the world's press, he isn't allowed to take any questions.
And he gives this homily about "forgiveness" and says god has an unfathomable capacity to pardon and noted that people are often harder on each other than God is toward sinners. The first step in softening people up so he can issue a blanket pardon to all the sex offenders in his church??
It all smacks of politics to me. You get the "front man" who's all folksy and send him out there so that nobody will notice what's going on where it really counts.
This is not Obama style politics. This is truth. He is not deceitful. He will do great things for the Church. I can understand you skepticism if you've been following DC, but this is different.
If you bothered following world news (instead of just concentrating on bashing Obama any time you could) you'd already know that this IS politics the world over.
Who do you think really runs Russia? Medvedev or Putin?
Who do you think really ran the US for 8 years? George W Bush or Dick Cheney?
Who do you think really runs the Vatican? Francis or the Curia?
Silly slow's altar boy, they didn't use boulders to build the Vatican. You must be thinking of the Flintstones Flying Spaghetti Monster's Church in Bedrock. LOL!
It's touching to see the Pontiff get out and press the flesh and show humility by "being with one", but his security detail needs to reign him in where matters of safety and security are concerned. The recent past where lunatics have attacked Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI are sad reminders of the violence and lunacy of many who would want to harm the Pontiff.
It is apparent that he believes that God is a better protector than any security detail. It is called 'living your faith'. I, for one, find it reassuring, a bit of 'walking the walk', if you will. God bless and keep him.
credibility2, You raise some very real issues and I am personally on the fence on this one.
On the one hand we all love the beautiful displays of humility on the part of Pope Francis and his willingness - even desire - to be with the people rather than distant from them.
On the other hand you are entirely correct when you speak about the danger of this approach if it is done without regard to the possibility of harm that can be done to the pope.
You mentioned attacks on Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI, but even Pope Paul VI was attacked back in 1970 by a Bolivian artist who was living in Philippines when the pope made a visit there.
Only an orthopedic cervical collar saved the pope's life when the madman slashed at his throat with a knife that would surely have killed him otherwise.
Pope Francis needs to find some sort of balance between his urge to mix with the people and the duty of the Swiss Guard to protect his life.
The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.
Reply to Comment The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.
linkicon reporticon emailicon
Honestly, are you guys idiots or do you just hate faithful Catholics so much that you're blind and can't read the English language?
"Actually, the truth is that they're giving to more than their churches," he says. "The religious Americans are more likely to give to EVERY kind of cause and charity, including explicitly NON-RELIGIOUS charities."
I don't know how much more clear I could make it unless I spoon fed you. Man, you guys are such sophomoric simpletons. You refuse to recognize the truth even when it's spelled out for you. Too bad for you. The fact is that atheists do not give anywhere near as much money and time to charities and the poor as do Christians. Deal with it and get over yourselves.
______________
I think you need to work on your reading comprehension before posting here again.
The official language of Brazil is Portuguese.
The official language of Argentina and Peru is Spanish.
Christians give far far more to charity and to the poor than atheists like you.
______________________
(Credible) source please?
TillMidnight says:
And you know you cannot buy your way in heaven.
So, what are you saying? That Christians are the ones trying to buy their way into heaven? Well, I guess that makes sense since it was only recently that the RCC stopped selling indulgences.
Never mind that it has nothing to do with the actually subject at hand. (Which, since you have trouble reading, was the source for the "fact" that "Christians" (nobody said anything about catholics) give more to charity than "atheists."
Besides, what I think would be the more interesting statistic is what *percentage* of their overall wealth do atheists versus "Christians" give to charity.
Of course "Christians" give more overall, since there are vastly more people that call themselves "Christians" than those who admit they are atheists.
However, there is a glaring dichotomy to my eyes, here.
He walks out the front of a church and stops to talk to random people on the street, but when he calls a press conference for the world's press, he isn't allowed to take any questions.
And he gives this homily about "forgiveness" and says god has an unfathomable capacity to pardon and noted that people are often harder on each other than God is toward sinners. The first step in softening people up so he can issue a blanket pardon to all the sex offenders in his church??
It all smacks of politics to me. You get the "front man" who's all folksy and send him out there so that nobody will notice what's going on where it really counts.
If you bothered following world news (instead of just concentrating on bashing Obama any time you could) you'd already know that this IS politics the world over.
Who do you think really runs Russia? Medvedev or Putin?
Who do you think really ran the US for 8 years? George W Bush or Dick Cheney?
Who do you think really runs the Vatican? Francis or the Curia?
You must be thinking of the Flintstones Flying Spaghetti Monster's Church in Bedrock.
LOL!
You raise some very real issues and I am personally on the fence on this one.
On the one hand we all love the beautiful displays of humility on the part of Pope Francis and his willingness - even desire - to be with the people rather than distant from them.
On the other hand you are entirely correct when you speak about the danger of this approach if it is done without regard to the possibility of harm that can be done to the pope.
You mentioned attacks on Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI, but even Pope Paul VI was attacked back in 1970 by a Bolivian artist who was living in Philippines when the pope made a visit there.
Only an orthopedic cervical collar saved the pope's life when the madman slashed at his throat with a knife that would surely have killed him otherwise.
Pope Francis needs to find some sort of balance between his urge to mix with the people and the duty of the Swiss Guard to protect his life.
Here's hoping it's more of the same...much more....