The Pope Begins Making His Mark

Pope Francis has warned the Catholic Church would become "a compassionate NGO" without spiritual renewal. In a Sistine Chapel Mass with cardinals on his first day as Church leader, the pontiff said: "If we do not confess to Christ, what would we be?
"We would end up a compassionate NGO. What would happen would be like when children make sand castles and then it all falls down."
Francis is the first Latin American - and the first Jesuit - Pope. The 76-year-old has already been swift to stamp his style on the papacy.

Pope Francis will deal with the problems of his Church first of all prayerfully rather than as a CEO coming in with a new broom. But the fact that the new Pope will meet the media before anyone else at a special audience on Saturday morning shows a vivid awareness that prayer may not be enough to deal with the situation facing the Catholic Church at this critical moment in its long history.

 

Francis is a Jesuit, a member of perhaps the most powerful and experienced religious order of the Catholic Church. The Jesuits are expert communicators and it is significant that one of the first people summoned to meet the new Pope this morning was Father Federico Lombardi, head of Vatican Radio (run for many years by the Jesuits) and the Vatican Press Office.  Under Pope Benedict, Father Lombardi was a mere functionary who had no direct access to the Pope. He could not pick up the phone and talk things through quickly - he just received orders from the Vatican Secretariat of State. That has now changed overnight.

Pope Francis is regarded as a doctrinal conservative, but he is also seen as a potential force for reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, analysts say. On Wednesday night, Pope Francis endeared himself to the crowds in St Peter's Square - and underlined his reputation for humility - when he asked them to bless him before blessing them in return from the balcony of the basilica.

The Vatican's account of his first hours in the top job on Thursday also emphasized Pope Francis's humility, describing how he shunned a special car and security detail provided to take him to the Vatican, travelling instead on a bus with the other cardinals.  Following his first outing as pope to the Rome basilica on Thursday, Francis went back to the clergy house in a city centre side street where he had been staying ahead of the conclave that elected him on Wednesday.
"He packed his bags and then he went to pay the bill for his room so as to set a good example," said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.

He also broke tradition by remaining standing to receive cardinals' acts of homage after his election, instead of sitting in the papal throne. On Friday, Pope Francis will meet all the cardinals, including those aged over 80 who did not take part in the conclave. On Saturday he will meet the world's media at a special papal audience, an opportunity perhaps to set out some of his global vision.

A visit to his predecessor Benedict XVI at his retreat at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome is also planned, but will not take place in the next couple of days, Father Lombardi said. The visit to Benedict is important, as the existence of a living retired pope has prompted fears of a possible rival power.

Francis will be installed officially in an inauguration Mass on Tuesday March 19th.