Pope Francis’ first mass as pontiff
Posted Mar 19, 2013 07:25:45 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Pope Francis urged princes, presidents, sheiks and thousands of ordinary people gathered at the Vatican for his installation Mass today to protect the environment, the weakest and the poorest.
It was a homily that mapped out a clear focus of his priorities as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics and included that a little bit of tenderness can “open up a horizon of hope.”
Francis was interrupted by applause several times during his homily, including when he spoke of the need to protect the environment and to serve one another with love and tenderness.
Francis thrilled the crowd at the start of the Mass by taking a long round-about through the sun-drenched piazza and getting out of his jeep to bless a disabled man.
It was a gesture from a man whose short papacy so far is becoming defined by such spontaneous forays into the crowd and concern for the disadvantaged.
Italian media initially estimated the crowd could reach one million people, but the Vatican said the actual size was between 150-thousand and 200-thousand.
Before the Mass began, Francis received the fisherman’s ring symbolizing the papacy and a wool stole symbolizing his role as shepherd of his 1.2-billion strong flock.
Some 132 official delegations attended, including one from Canada led by Governor General David Johnston.
Another Canadian — Sebastian Gomes of Perth, Ontario — did the first reading at the pope’s installation mass, from the second book of Samuel in the bible.
Among the religious VIPs attending was the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
Bartholomew became the first patriarch from the Istanbul-based church to attend a papal investiture since the two branches of Christianity split nearly 1,000 years ago.
