POPE Francis surprised crowds of Catholic faithful who waited through
the night for his inaugural Mass with a telephone call from the Vatican
to the cathedral in Buenos Aires where he used to be archbishop.In his telephone message, Francis, or Francisco as he is known in the Spanish-speaking world, thanked the crowds for their prayers.
“Thank you for praying, for your prayers, which I need a lot,” he said. “I want to ask you a favour, that we walk together, that we look after each other ... look after life, look after the family, nature.
“Don’t forget this bishop, who though far away, cares so much for you. Pray for me,” he added, drawing cheers and applause from the crowd.
Some of the worshippers slept outside wrapped in the yellow and white flag of the Vatican. Others prayed inside the cathedral.
“We’re so happy to have an Argentinian pope, someone full of humility, intelligent, who cares about everyone,” said housewife Mariana O’Connor, 51. “I think this will mean a big change in the country, it will transmit peace and harmony, which is what we need.”
Jose Maria Di Paola, a priest who works in the slums and a friend of the pope, said Francis was popular with the millions of Argentines who live in poverty.
“Lots and lots of good memories of him and how he accompanied us come to mind,” he said in Plaza de Mayo. “The people in the slums love him, they feel he is one of them.”
Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, took his name in honour of St Francis of Assisi, a symbol of poverty, simplicity, charity and love of nature.
Known for travelling by bus and shunning the luxuries of high Church office, Bergoglio lived in a one-room apartment next to the cathedral and grew up in a middle-class family in Buenos Aires.