Refreshing Francis throws down gauntlet

In a pontificate of less than three weeks Pope Francis has radically shifted the symbolism of gesture and how the core beliefs and concerns of Christianity are conveyed.

He has spectacularly shunned the pomp of his predecessors which far too often verged on Versailles-scale hubris. The Jesuit Argentine has dismissed the trappings that did so much to make the Vatican and its offices seem a remote, aloof monarchy rather than the seat of today’s transient successor to Peter.

To billions of people born into the Catholic tradition many of them have been so disappointed, some utterly betrayed, by the institutionalised, self-important hierarchy that they no longer define themselves as Catholic, Francis may re-ignite the idealism that makes the basic Christian message of love, faith, hope and charity as attractive, challenging and powerful as it ever was.