Pope Francis marks 1st year as pontiff with retreat

Argentinian-born Pope Francis will mark his one-year anniversary with a week-long Lenten spiritual retreat outside the Vatican- the first time the retreat for the pontiff, cardinals, bishops and of the Holy See will take place outside the Vatican walls in living memory.

His weekly general audiences at the Vatican every Wednesday have witnessed his easy manner with people as he passes through the crowds, stopping to greet those who catch his attention.

Those who knew the pope from Argentina say, whilst his style may be different from his predecessor Pope Benedict, the message is the same.

”First of all, what I want to say is that Pope Francis is carrying on the mission of Pope Benedict,” Argentinian Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli told Reuters.

“There is continuity. Francis offers his gifts, the gifts that God has blessed him with, exactly as Pope Benedict did, during his time. As Benedict has given us plenty of light then, there is now a time of great luminosity with the pontificate of Francis. Those of us who know him from Buenos Aires are very happy for his Petrine (papal) ministry,” Poli said.

Those who recently spent time with him during the consistory, when he appointed 19 new cardinals, say Pope Francis is special for his simplicity.

”He is a very approachable man” said Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Jose Brenes Solorzano.

“In these days that we have spent working with him in the Extraordinary Consistory, he has given us a real example of humility. He walks with us from the Santa Marta residence, gives his overcoat to the cloakroom as we do, he lines up with us to collect it. I think he is a man who is initiating a new era for us bishops,” Solorzano said.

In a recent interview with an Italian newspaper, Pope Francis said it was “offensive” to depict him as a superman who could meet all expectations and stressed that he was just a normal man.

New Vatican era

But Vatican watchers say he has brought in a new era for the Church.

“He has changed the landscape” Spanish television correspondent and former priest Antonio Pelayo said.

“Even if we are in the same place, in front of the same Basilica, the same Vatican square, the landscape of the Church has changed completely. It has been transformed. This pope inherited a Church that was somewhat tormented, barricaded in the trenches, on the defensive. With him they’ve moved forward, not on the offensive, because the Church is not agressive but on the frontline, the frontline of service to the world, service to humanity, the people, peace and justice. So I think this move to the frontline has been the great step that this pope has initiated,” he said.

Over six million people have flocked to see the new pope with large numbers of followers from Latin America also making the long journey.

“He has changed the Church because this is a religion that was losing followers and thanks to him and his closeness to the people, his humility, his way of being, which is somewhat similar to that of John Paul II, things have changed and he has helped attract more people to the Roman Catholic religion,” said Mexican pilgrim Javier Perez while joining thousands of people queueing to enter St. Peter’s Basilica.