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Every year, on Good Friday, thousands of pilgrims go to the Colosseum to take part in the “Via Crucis” (the Way of the Cross) to honor and remember the Passion of Jesus.
As Pope Francis overlooked the crowds of faithful, the 14 stations of the Cross were carried out by priests, friars, sisters and laypeople from different parts of the world.
The ceremony included a series of prayers to reflect on Jesus’ Passion and his message.
Leading his first Way of the Cross as Pontiff, Pope Francis said only a few words are necessary to understand God’s message
“Lord, we too carry a cross of suffering and illnesses, but we accept it because You are with us.”
Leading his first Way of the Cross as Pontiff, Pope Francis said only a few words are necessary to understand God’s message.
“Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness.”
The Cross was carried by families from India and another from Italy. There was an ill person on a wheelchair and also people from countries were Christians are often persecuted.
A group of Catholics from Lebanon helped organize the reflections and meditations that were read during the ceremony. They made reference to the daily challenges Christians face in some regions, especially in the Middle East, for practicing their faith.
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Pope Francis was pictured lying on the floor during Good Friday service in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Presiding over his first Easter week as pope, Pope Francis lay prostrate, praying to God before the famous church’s alter atop a rug with his arms resting on a pillow.
The position of worship was adopted as he led the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion in Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Pope Francis will later lead a candlelit procession around the Colosseum as part of the Way of the Cross ceremony.
The symbolic walk around one of Rome’s most well-known landmarks, commemorates Jesus’s final walk through the streets of Jerusalem while carrying the cross.
After being elected as pontiff following a secret conclave in the Vatican City earlier this month, Pope Francis has garnered attention for his humility and willingness to break from tradition.
Yesterday, on Maundy Thursday, the Pope visited a prison to wash and kiss the feet of convicted criminals.
The pontiff held a major Easter Week service at Casal del Marmo young offenders’ prison in Rome – the first Holy Thursday service outside St Peter’s Basilica or the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.
Speaking to 50 inmates, he said: ‘I’m happy to be with you. Don’t give up hope.’
The foot washing on Maundy Thursday echoes a New Testament passage in which Jesus honors his 12 disciples before his Crucifixion.
Pope Francis has carried out similar ceremonies in Argentinean jails.
In a first for a Pope, he also attended to the feet of two woman prisoners. Several of the 12 were also Muslim.
Pope Francis already has officials on the back foot with his lack of regard for protocol.
He has insisted he will not live in the lavish Papal apartment, a 12-room property on the top floor of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
On seeing the apartment, Pope Francis said: “But there is room for 300 people in here.”
Instead, Pope Francis has chosen a modest two-bedroom hotel-style residence at the Domus Santa Marta building.
The newly-elected Pope has also signaled that he wants to lead the church in a direction that priorizes care for the most disadvantaged in society.
At a mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Maundy Thursday, Pope Francis told priests: “We need to go out… to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters.”
Those who do not, the Pope said, “become merely dealers in antiques and collectibles, instead of pastors, ending up dissatisfied and sad”.
His first papal Holy Week will culminate with an Easter Sunday “Urbi et Orbi” – an address to the City of Rome and the world.
Thousands of Catholics are expected to flock to St. Peter’s Square for the first Jesuit and South American pope’s address.
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Pope Francis has washed and kissed the feet of 12 detainees in a youth detention centre near Rome as part of the Maundy Thursday service.
The Christian ritual takes place on the Thursday before Easter to commemorate Christ’s Last Supper.
Thousands of pilgrims and tourists are arriving in Rome to attend ceremonies during the holy week ahead of Easter.
In a homily, Pope Francis earlier urged priests to do less “soul-searching” and engage more with parishioners.
“It is not in soul-searching… that we encounter the Lord,” the Pope told hundreds of cardinals, priests and bishops in St Peter’s Basilica.
“We need to go out… to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters.”
Worshippers should “leave Mass looking as if they had heard good news”, he added.
Foot washing replicates the Bible’s account of Jesus Christ’s gesture of humility towards his 12 apostles on the night before he was crucified
During Thursday’s intimate service, Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 young detainees to replicate the Bible’s account of Jesus Christ’s gesture of humility towards his 12 apostles on the night before he was crucified.
The 12 prisoners included two girls, one Italian Catholic and one of Serbian Muslim origin, local prison ombudsman Angiolo Marroni said ahead of the ceremony.
Some of the prisoners volunteered to have their feet washed, while others were given an invitation to help them overcome their embarrassment, the Catholic News Agency quoted the prison chaplain as saying.
In total, around 10 girls and 40 boys from different nationalities and diverse religious confessions were taking part in Thursday’s Mass at Casal del Marmo on the outskirts of Rome.
The newly-elected Pope has brought a new sense of simplicity to the Vatican.
He has broken with tradition for the foot-washing ceremony, which is normally performed on lay people in one of Rome’s basilicas.
Pope Benedict XVI visited the centre in 2007, but not for the Holy Thursday Mass. Only for the first two years of his pontificate did he perform the feet-washing himself, after which the task was delegated to priests.
Easter is the most important festival in the calendar of the Catholic Church.
On Good Friday evening the Pope will carry a wooden cross and pray at a ceremony at Rome’s ancient amphitheatre, the Colosseum, commemorating Jesus’ crucifixion.
On Saturday evening Pope Francis will celebrate the main Easter Vigil Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
And on Easter Sunday morning, Pope Francis will deliver his first “Urbi et Orbi” message to the city of Rome and to the world.
During his inaugural general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis called for an immediate political solution to the conflict in the Central African Republic after last weekend’s coup.
Pope Francis has renounced the grand papal penthouse on the top floor of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace in favor of a modest two-room residence.
The Pope’s spokesman said he was “trying out this type of simple living” in a communal building with other priests.
In doing so Pope Francis has broken a tradition which is more than a century old.
The decision reinforces the newly-elected Pope’s austere reputation. As archbishop of Buenos Aires he refused to move into the Bishop’s Palace.
Preferring more modest accommodation, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio also often cooked his own meals.
Since the reign of Pope Pius X at the beginning of the 20th Century every pope has occupied the palatial penthouse apartment with more than a dozen rooms, staff quarters, a terrace and extensive views over the city of Rome.
Pope Francis has renounced the grand papal penthouse on the top floor of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace in favor of a modest two-room residence
Since his election Pope Francis has been living in a simple two-room suite in the Domus Santa Marta – a hotel-style residence built by Pope John Paul II next to St Peter’s Basilica.
The Pope intends to go on living there for the foreseeable future, according to the Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.
“This morning he let his fellow cardinals know that he will keep living with them for a certain period of time,” Federico Lombardi said.
He said he could not say whether the Pope would remain in these quarters in the long term.
“It is still a period of getting used to things,” Federico Lombardi added.
Pope Francis will continue to use the papal library on the second floor of the Apostolic palace for receiving official guests and will appear on Sundays at the window used by previous popes to address pilgrims in St Peters Square.
About half the 105 suites in the residence are occupied by Vatican staff, who had to move out of their rooms to accommodate visiting cardinals during the holding of the recent conclave at which Pope Francis was elected.
Pope Francis will take his meals in the communal dining room together with other visiting clerics and permanent residents.
The newly-elected Pope’s simple new communal home contrasts with the much larger accommodation currently being renovated inside the Vatican for the future use of the now retired former Pope Benedict and his staff.
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Pope Francis has met his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, for a private lunch at Castel Gandolfo; the first time such a meeting has been possible for more than 600 years.
Pope Francis was flown by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo for the private lunch with Pope Emeritus Benedict.
Benedict has lived at the lakeside castle south of Rome since last month, when he became the first pope in six centuries to resign, citing ill health.
There is no public record of any previous meeting between a Pope and a former Pope, as the new head of the Catholic Church is usually elected after the death of his predecessor.
In 1294, former hermit Celestine V resigned after five months as Pope. Boniface VIII was elected days later, and had his predecessor imprisoned. Celestine was dead within a year.
In contrast, Pope Francis has spoken warmly of his predecessor.
Pope Francis was flown by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo for a private lunch with Pope Emeritus Benedict
One of his first acts as Pope was to call Benedict at Castel Gandolfo, where the former pontiff had been following proceedings on television.
Pope Emeritus Benedict is expected to stay on at the papal summer residence until new accommodation being prepared for him inside the walls of Vatican City is ready at the end of April.
For his part, Pope Francis will begin the Church’s most important liturgical season on Sunday with a Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square.
He will then lead six more liturgies during the week, culminating with the Easter Sunday Mass and Urbi et Orbi blessing.
Only 10 days into his pontificate, Pope Francis has made some subtle but significant changes in the lifestyle of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
He dresses very simply, preferring to wear plain black shoes under a simple white habit rather than the red leather loafers and ermine-trimmed cape worn by his predecessor.
Pope Francis spurned a special car to take a bus with his cardinals after he was elected, and insisted on returning to his Rome hotel the next day to pay his own bill.
And he places himself on the same level as his guests, rather than greeting them from a throne on an elevated platform, which is seen as a powerful gesture after centuries of Vatican pomp.
Pope Francis has also started inviting guests to his early morning Mass – including Vatican gardeners, street sweepers, kitchen staff and maids working at the hotel where he is currently staying.
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Pope Francis has stunned the owners of a Buenos Aires newspaper kiosk, by phoning directly to cancel his order.
Luis Del Regno and his son Daniel delivered papers to former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s residence every weekday.
Daniel Del Regno said he thought it was a prank when a caller earlier this week introduced himself as “Cardinal Jorge”.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Latin American Pope when he was elected on March 13 after the shock resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
He chose the name Francis in honor of Francis of Assisi – the 13th century Italian saint who spurned a life of luxury to work with the poor.
Each Sunday, the archbishop of Buenos Aires would come and pick up the paper himself at 05:30 before catching a bus to distribute tea to sick people in the suburb of Lugano, said Luis Del Regno.
When Daniel Del Regno answered the phone on Monday, he could not believe it was the newly-elected Pope, the Catholic News Agency reported.
“Seriously, it’s Jorge Bergoglio, I’m calling you from Rome,” Pope Francis had told Daniel Del Regno.
“I was in shock, I broke down in tears and didn’t know what to say,” Daniel Del Regno told Argentine daily La Nacion.
“He thanked me for delivering the paper all this time and sent best wishes to my family.”
“I asked him if there would ever be the chance to see him here again. He said that for the time being that would be very difficult, but that he would always be with us.”
Pope Francis has stunned the owners of a Buenos Aires newspaper kiosk, by phoning directly to cancel his order
Daniel Del Regno said he had asked Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio before he left for Rome if he thought he would be elected in the secret conclave.
“He answered me: <<That is too hot to touch. See you in 20 days, keep delivering the paper>>. And the rest is, well, history,” he said.
The former cardinal had booked a return ticket to Buenos Aires where he was expecting to lead Easter services next weekend.
Instead, as Pope Francis, will celebrate Mass on Holy Thursday in St Peter’s Basilica, and will wash the feet of prisoners in a youth detention centre in Rome, continuing a pre-Easter practice he began while archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Normally feet-washing Masses before Easter are held in the Vatican or a Rome basilica.
Luis Del Regno said he had “thousands of stories” about the new Pope, including the fact that he used to collect all the rubber bands that were wrapped around his newspapers.
“At the end of the month, he always brought them back to me,” said Luis Del Regno.
“All 30 of them!”
Pope Francis has already stamped his humble style on the papacy – spurning a special car to take a bus with his cardinals after he was elected, and insisting on returning to his Rome hotel the next day to pay his own bill.
The new Pope has called for the Roman Catholic Church to be closer to ordinary people, especially the poor and disadvantaged.
Pope Francis is the 266th and current pope of the Roman Catholic Church, elected on 13 March 2013. As such, he is both head of the Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State.
The duties of the 266th successor to the throne of Saint Peter are wide-ranging.
The Pope’s regular Vatican appointments are:
- a weekly blessing for tourists and pilgrims every Sunday from the window of his private study overlooking Saint Peter’s Square
- a weekly general audience for some 5,000 pilgrims in a modern audience hall in winter and in the open air in Saint Peter’s Square in summer.
The Pope normally presides over religious celebrations of all the major church festivals of the year inside Saint Peter’s, including Christmas and Easter, when he also appears on the same balcony where he was proclaimed pope after his election to deliver his “Urbi Et Orbi” message to the city of Rome and to the world.
Past popes have celebrated Mass every morning in their private chapel before settling down at their desk to deal with correspondence.
The Pope has a small personal staff of nuns to run his household, to cook and clean, and a personal valet or butler. Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II both had two personal secretaries. He also has a team of speechwriters.
While Pope Emeritus Benedict lived a secluded life inside the Vatican (and plans to live an even more secluded existence in the former convent which is being prepared as his new home in a corner of the Vatican Gardens), Pope John Paul II lived a more gregarious existence, often inviting personal guests to attend his early morning mass and to share his breakfast. He also gave frequent lunch and dinner parties for visiting clergy and friends.
One of the duties of a pope is to meet at least once every five years with his more than 5,000 bishops from around the world – roughly 1,000 a year, or 20 a week.
Under church law they are obliged to visit Rome to report to the Pope on the state of their dioceses in what is called an “ad limina” (on the threshold of Saint Peter) visit. Pope Benedict XVI had just finished this exhaustive series of interviews with every Catholic bishop in the world, and was embarking on a second round just before his retirement.
Foreign travel is also, these days, among the Pope’s duties.
Pope Francis is the 266th and current pope of the Roman Catholic Church
In contrast to the 19th Century Pope Pius IX and his immediate successors, Pope Francis is unlikely ever voluntarily to confine himself to his micro-state.
Pope Pius’ pontificate lasted for 32 years, the longest of all time. Although he was forced to leave Rome and seek temporary refuge at nearby Gaeta when revolution broke out in Rome in 1848, he angrily declared himself a “prisoner in the Vatican” when forced militarily to forfeit his temporal rule over the former papal states of central Italy after Italy became a unified state in 1870. He remained inside the walls of the Vatican until he died.
Pope Francis has already made several sorties into Rome in an unmarked car and is likely to continue the regular worldwide and Italian travels of his immediate predecessors. His first foreign visit is expected to be to his home country Argentina, and also to Brazil for a Catholic youth festival in Rio De Janeiro in July.
His first visit inside Italy could be to Assisi, the birthplace of the much loved patron saint of Italy, Saint Francis, by whose name the new Pope chose to be called.
The Pope also receives many visitors.
Traditional papal protocol is complicated and serves to isolate the Pope except when he officiates at these public ceremonies.
The Apostolic Palace, a fine Renaissance building next to Saint Peter’s Basilica, has suites of official reception rooms on its second floor, below the papal apartments. Here the Pope receives heads of state and official guests in his private library – groups of visitors range in size from four or five, to several hundred at a time.
Popes traditionally live in the spacious apartment reserved for their use on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace. This may not suit the new Pope who, as absolute monarch, is free to live where he will. When appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis refused to live in the archbishop’s palace, preferring more simple accommodation.
Up to now Pope Francis has chosen to work from a hotel room inside Vatican City, rather than move directly into his palatial official quarters, which he finds excessively large.
Pope Francis will wash the feet of prisoners in a youth detention centre in Rome while he will celebrate Mass on Holy Thursday, the Vatican has said.
The Vatican says the pontiff is continuing a pre-Easter practice that began when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Normally feet-washing Masses before Easter are held in the Vatican or a Rome basilica.
However, Pope Benedict XVI held a feet-washing Mass at the same Casal del Marmo youth detention centre in Rome in 2007.
Pope Francis will stage his feet-washing ceremony at Casal del Marmo on the afternoon of March 28.
The washing of feet on the Thursday before Easter is a Christian tradition dating back to the time of Christ.
Pope Francis will wash the feet of prisoners in a youth detention centre in Rome while he will celebrate Mass on Holy Thursday
During the service, the pontiff washes and kisses the feet of 12 people to replicate the Bible’s account of Jesus Christ’s gesture of humility towards his 12 apostles on the night before he was crucified.
“With this celebration at Casal del Marmo, Pope Francis will continue this custom, which is characterized by its humble context,” a statement by the Vatican said.
It said that Pope Francis would also celebrate Mass earlier on Holy Thursday in St Peter’s Basilica.
Pope Francis has called for the Roman Catholic Church to be closer to ordinary people, especially the poor and disadvantaged.
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Pope Francis I inauguration Mass is being held in St Peter’s Square in Rome, marking the official start of his papacy.
Pope Francis first toured the square in an open-topped vehicle, descending to bless pilgrims behind the barriers.
Up to a million people, along with global political and religious leaders, are attending the Mass.
Pope Francis was elected by a conclave of cardinals last week to take over from Benedict XVI.
Pope Benedict XVI became the first pontiff in 600 years to abdicate last month. Citing his age, 85, he said he could no longer continue in the post.
The first pontiff from the Americas, Francis has suggested he will take a more modest approach than predecessors.
Pope Francis, formerly Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, left his temporary residence at Casa Santa Marta shortly before 09:00 and began touring St Peter’s Square.
The pontiff waved to the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, who flew flags and shouted: “Long live the Pope!”
Pope Francis I inauguration Mass is being held in St Peter’s Square in Rome, marking the official start of his papacy
Pope Francis then entered St Peter’s Basilica and donned his vestments.One of the Pope’s first duties was to go down to the tomb of St Peter to venerate it.
Pope Francis was then presented with his papal pallium made of lambs’ wool – symbolizing his role as shepherd of his flock – in the main square.
He also received the “fisherman’s ring” bearing the image of St Peter holding two keys. The ring is second hand and is made of silver-plated gold, not the solid gold worn by Francis’ predecessor.
With the reception of the pallium and ring, Francis officially began his office as the 266th pope.
The Pope then received the obedience of the cardinals, and the Mass formally began.
Pope Francis then delivered his homily, in Italian.
It began by focusing on Joseph and his role as protector – of Mary, Jesus and the Church.
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Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announces she has asked for Pope Francis’ intervention in the Falklands dispute between her country and the UK.
Visiting the Vatican, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said she had asked Pope Francis to promote dialogue between the two sides.
Argentine Pope Francis was elected last week and will be formally installed as pontiff at a Mass on Tuesday.
In the past Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has said the Falkland Islands, a UK overseas territory, belong to Argentina.
Before being elected as the new pontiff, the 76-year-old was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Relations between him, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, and her late husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner, were tense.
“I asked for his intervention to avoid problems that could emerge from the militarization of Great Britain in the south Atlantic,” Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner told reporters after a 15-20 minute meeting and lunch with the Pope.
“We want a dialogue and that’s why we asked the pope to intervene so that the dialogue is successful.”
There has been no word yet as to how the Pope responded to the appeal.
In a referendum held a week ago, people in the Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining a UK overseas territory.
At a Mass last year, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio told Argentine veterans of the Falklands War: “We come to pray for all who have fallen, sons of the Homeland who went out to defend their mother, the Homeland, and to reclaim what is theirs.”
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announces she has asked for Pope Francis’ intervention in the Falklands dispute between her country and the UK
British Prime Minister David Cameron said last week that he “respectfully” disagreed with the view expressed in the past by Pope Francis that the Falkland Islands had been “usurped” by the UK.Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is the first head of state Pope Francis has met. She presented him with a mate gourd and straw for drinking traditional Argentine tea.
The two also kissed, and the president remarked afterwards: “Never in my life has a pope kissed me!”
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner gave a muted welcome to the Pope’s election. The two have clashed in the past, especially over social reforms promoted by her and her late husband in the face of Church opposition.
When the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio argued that gay adoptions discriminated against children, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said his tone harked back to “medieval times and the Inquisition”.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner once referred to Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the “head of the opposition”.
Last year, the cardinal said Argentina was being harmed by demagoguery, totalitarianism, corruption and efforts to secure unlimited power, the Associated Press reports.
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Pope Francis I has delivered his first Angelus prayer and blessing before a crowd of many thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square in Rome.
The pontiff also delivered off-the-cuff remarks, about God’s power to forgive, instead of reading a written speech.
It was the Pope’s second official appearance before the general public since he was elected on Wednesday.
Earlier, Pope Francis celebrated his first Sunday mass as pontiff in the Vatican’s small and simple parish church.
Before he entered the church, chosen instead of St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis greeted well-wishers who had lined up outside a nearby Vatican gate shouting “Francesco” (his name in Italian).
At the end of the Sunday Mass, he waited outside the church and greeted people as they left, like a parish priest, asking many of them to, “pray for me”.
Later, just a few minutes after delivering the Angelus, Pope Francis sent his first Tweet as pontiff, writing: “Dear friends, I thank you from my heart and I ask you to continue to pray for me. Pope Francis.”
Pope Francis I has delivered his first Angelus prayer and blessing before a crowd of many thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square in Rome
First impressions of the new Pope from the faithful on St Peter’s Square have been favorable.“He uses simple words for all people,” said policeman Claudio, who was born in Rome.
“Plus he’s Hispanic and so closer to the Italians.”
The new Pope’s tone is very different to that of Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis’ style is pastoral, he teaches by anecdote and speaks off the cuff with ease, in contrast to the theological sermonizing of Pope Benedict.
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Pope Francis I has said he wants “a poor Church, for the poor” following his election as the next pontiff.
The Pope said he chose the name Francis after 12-13th Century St Francis of Assisi, who represented “poverty and peace”.
The pontiff urged journalists to get to know the Church with its “virtues and sins” and to share its focus on “truth, goodness and beauty”.
Pope Francis takes over from Benedict XVI, who abdicated last month.
The former Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, was the surprise choice of cardinals meeting in Rome to choose a new head of the Catholic Church.
In his first audience at the Vatican, Pope Francis said Jesus Christ and not the Pope was the centre of the Church, which he stressed was “spiritual not political” in nature.
Pope Francis said the Holy Spirit had inspired the resignation of Benedict XVI and guided the cardinals choosing him as the next pontiff.
The Pope said he chose the name Francis after 12-13th Century St Francis of Assisi, who represented poverty and peace
The Pope said he had been inspired to take the name Francis by a Brazilian colleague who embraced him and whispered “don’t forget the poor” when it was announced that he had been elected Pope.He said he immediately thought of St Francis of Assisi, the Italian founder of the Franciscan Order who was devoted to the poor.
As well as representing poverty and peace, the Pope said St Francis “loved and looked after” creation – and he noted that humanity was “not having a good relationship with nature at the moment”.
St Francis of Assisi is said to have loved animals as his “brothers and sisters” and even to have preached to birds.
There had been speculation that Pope Francis – who was a member of the Jesuit order – had chosen his name in honor of St Francis Xavier, a 16th Century Jesuit missionary in Asia. But he said this was not the case.
The new Pope’s style is very different to that of his predecessor.
He talks in simple, easy to understand terms about ethical values and shows a remarkable sense of humor.
Earlier, the Vatican said Pope Francis would visit his predecessor Pope emeritus Benedict next week.
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The Vatican has denied that Pope Francis I failed to speak out against human rights abuses during military rule in his native Argentina.
“There has never been a credible, concrete accusation against him,” said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, adding the Pope had never been charged.
Federico Lombardi blamed the accusations on “anti-clerical left-wing elements that are used to attack the Church”.
Former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis I, led Argentina’s Jesuits under the junta.
Correspondents say that like other Latin American churchmen of the time, Jorge Mario Bergoglio had to contend, on the one hand, with a repressive right-wing regime and, on the other, a wing of his Church leaning towards political activism on the left.
One allegation concerns the abduction in 1976 of two Jesuits by the Argentina’s military government, suspicious of their work among slum-dwellers.
As the priests’ provincial superior at the time, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was accused by some of having failed to shield them from arrest – a charge his office flatly denied.
The Vatican has denied that Pope Francis I failed to speak out against human rights abuses during military rule in his native Argentina
Judges investigating the arrest and torture of the two men – who were freed after five months – questioned Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as a witness in 2010.The new Pope’s official biographer, Sergio Rubin, argues that the Jesuit leader “took extraordinary, behind-the-scenes action to save them”.
Another accusation leveled against Pope Francis I from the Dirty War era is that he failed to follow up a request to help find the baby of a woman kidnapped when five months pregnant and who was killed in 1977. It is believed the baby was illegally adopted.
Jorge Mario Begoglio testified in 2010 that he had not known about baby thefts until well after the junta fell – a claim relatives dispute.
Newly-elected 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, Pope Francis 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 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.
Pope Francis has warned the Catholic Church would become a compassionate NGO without spiritual renewal
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.
Pope Francis also broke tradition by remaining standing to receive cardinals’ acts of homage after his election, instead of sitting in the papal throne, Father Federico Lombardi said.
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 Federico Lombardi said.
The visit to Benedict is important, correspondents say, as the existence of a living retired pope has prompted fears of a possible rival power.
Pope Francis will be installed officially in an inauguration Mass on Tuesday, March 19, the Vatican added.
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