Striking the right tone

By abandoning much of the baroque pomp of his predecessor Benedict, the new pope has already won many admirers, write Philip Pullella and Catherine Hornby

IT WAS a simplified celebration that again fuelled hopes for change in the scandal-plagued Roman Catholic Church. Francis, the first Jesuit pope, has already put his mark on the papacy, abandoning much of the baroque pomp of his predecessor Benedict and signalling that he wants a Church whose first priority is the poor and disadvantaged.

For 30 minutes before his inauguration mass, he toured a crammed St Peter’s Square under bright sunshine in an open white jeep, abandoning the bullet-proof popemobile used frequently by Benedict.