You're in the News Nation & World - World News Wire section

Vatican: Francis won't visit Benedict Thursday

By NICOLE WINFIELD - Associated Press

Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013 | 04:53 AM

tool name

close
tool goes here
0 comments

VATICAN CITY -- Francis' election elated Latin America, home to 40 percent of the world's Catholics which has nevertheless long been underrepresented in the church leadership. On Wednesday, drivers honked their horns in the streets of Buenos Aires and television announcers screamed with elation at the news.

"It's a huge gift for all of Latin America. We waited 20 centuries. It was worth the wait," said Jose Antonio Cruz, a Franciscan friar at the St. Francis of Assisi church in the colonial Old San Juan district in Puerto Rico. "Everyone from Canada down to Patagonia is going to feel blessed."

The new pontiff brings a common touch. The son of middle-class Italian immigrants, he denied himself the luxuries that previous cardinals in Buenos Aires enjoyed. He lived in a simple apartment, often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and regularly visited slums that ring Argentina's capital.

"If he brings that same desire for a simple lifestyle to the papal court, I think they are all going to be in shock," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican," a must-read book on the Vatican bureaucracy. "This may not be a man who wants to wear silk and furs."

Francis considers social outreach, rather than doctrinal battles, to be the essential business of the church.

"As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than 2,000 years - that in each other, we see the face of God," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement.

As the 266th pope, Francis inherits a Catholic church in turmoil, beset by the clerical sex abuse scandal, internal divisions and dwindling numbers in parts of the world where Christianity had been strong for centuries.

While Latin America is still very Catholic, it has faced competition from aggressive evangelical churches that have chipped away at strongholds like Brazil, where the number of Catholics has dropped from 74 percent of the population in 2000 to 65 percent today. Like Europe, secularism has also taken hold: more and more people simply no longer identify themselves with any organized religion.

Francis is sure to bring the church closer to the poverty-wracked region, while also introducing the world to a very different type of pope, whose first words were a simple, "Brothers and sisters, good evening."

He asked for prayers for himself, and for Benedict, whose stunning resignation paved the way for his election.

"I want you to bless me," Francis said in his first appearance from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, asking the faithful to bow their heads in silent prayer.


Follow Nicole Winfield at http://www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Similar stories:

  • Francis snubs pomp and protocol on first day of papacy

  • Francis snubs pomp, urges reform on first day of papacy

  • First steps on becoming a pope

  • Pope Francis takes Vatican trappings to a new plain

  • POPE LIVE: Around the world as a new pope emerges

The Bee's story-comment system is provided by Disqus. To read more about it, see our Disqus FAQ page. If you post comments, please be respectful of other readers. Your comments may be removed and you may be blocked from commenting if you violate our terms of service. Comments flagged by the system as potentially abusive will not appear until approved by a moderator.

more videos »
Visit our video index