In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis waves the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who chose the name of Pope Francis, is the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
Pope captivates crowds with 1st words about peace
Published: 09:17:57 PM, Wed 13 March 2013 UTC
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Before they even saw his face, Pope Francis had already won over the Roman masses.
The announcement that he would be known by the same name as St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of Italy, sent the crowd into ecstasy.
He did even better with his first words, when the 76-year-old Argentine said the cardinals had reached to the "end of the earth" to find the bishop of Rome — recalling the beloved Pope John Paul II, a Polish cardinal who told his first crowd in 1978 that cardinals had called him "from a far country."
The former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is the son of an Italian immigrant and his Italian is only lightly accented.
Tags:
ap, pope benedict xvi, pope john paul ii, cardinals, italy, pope paul vi, religion, catholic church, words, pope, rome, vatican city, crowds, crowd, ecstasy, st. francis, assisi, patron saint, pope francis, cardinal jorge bergoglio, beloved pope john, roman masses, polish cardinal, 76-year-old argentine, italian immigrant
