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           Francis Delights Pilgrims with Informal 1st Sunday Address

   Pope Francis has greeted a crowd of 150,000 pilgrims in St. Peter`s
   Square with an informal address for the first Sunday window appearance
   of his four-day old papacy.
   In a break with tradition, Francis spoke to the crowd in Italian,
   mostly without reading from a prepared speech for the weekly Angelus
   prayer. He began his remarks with "buon giorno," or good day, and ended
   with "buon pranzo," meaning have a good lunch.
   The pontiff`s humor and spontaneous style delighted the pilgrims in the
   packed Vatican square.
   Earlier, he delivered a short homily to several hundred Vatican workers
   and their family members in a Sunday Mass at the small Vatican church
   of St. Anna`s. After the Mass, he shook hands with parishioners and
   kissed several children. Francis also walked out of a Vatican gate to
   greet well-wishers chanting his name behind a police barricade on a
   Rome street.
   The 76-year-old Argentinean pope`s casual demeanor and common touch has
   become an immediate hallmark of his papacy, which began Wednesday with
   his election by the college of cardinals. He is the the first Latin
   American to lead the Roman Catholic Church.
   Francis also issued his first tweet Sunday, using the @Pontifex Twitter
   account created by his retired predecessor Benedict. In the message, he
   said "Dear friends, I thank you from my heart and I ask you to continue
   to pray for me. Pope Francis."
   The more austere Benedict, who is 85, resigned last month, saying he
   was ending his eight-year-long papacy due to his advanced age. His was
   the first pope to step down voluntarily in 600 years.
   Francis is due to meet with Benedict next Saturday.
   The new pope will be formally installed as leader of the world`s more
   than one billion Catholics on Tuesday, in a ceremony to be attended by
   foreign dignitaries, including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is
   Catholic.
   Pope Francis, formerly known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is
   noted for his humility and commitment to social issues. On the night he
   was elected, he shunned the papal limousine and traveled on a bus with
   the cardinals. He later stopped by a hotel to pick up his belongings
   and paid the bill himself.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/francis-delights-pilgrims-with-informal-1st-sunday-address/1623082.html