Stand up for the weak and poor urges new pope

Mapping out a clear focus of his priorities as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, echoed the gentleness for which St Francis is known saying tenderness can “open up a horizon of hope.”

The Vatican estimated between 150,000-200,000 people attended the Mass, held under bright blue skies after days of chilly rain and featuring flag-waving fans from around the world.

Francis was interrupted by applause several times during his homily, including when he spoke of the need to protect the environment, serve one another with love and not allow “omens of destruction,” hatred, envy and pride to “defile our lives”.

Francis said the role of the pope is to open his arms and protect all of humanity, but “especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison.”

“Today amid so much darkness we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others,” he said. “To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope, it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds,” he said.

Francis, 76, thrilled the crowd at the start of the Mass by taking a trip through the piazza and getting out of his jeep to bless a disabled man. It was a gesture from a man whose short papacy so far is becoming defined by such spontaneous forays into the crowd and concern for the disadvantaged.

Before the Mass began, Francis received the fisherman’s ring symbolising the papacy and a wool stole symbolising his role as shepherd of his flock.

A cardinal intoned the rite of inauguration, saying: “The Good Shepherd charged Peter to feed his lambs and his sheep; today you succeed him as the bishop of this church.”

Some 132 official delegations attended, including more than a half-dozen heads of state from Latin America, a sign of the significance of the election for the region. Francis has made clear he wants his pontificate to be focused on the poor, a message that has resonance in a poverty-stricken region that has 40 per cent of the world’s Catholics.

In the VIP section was German chancellor Angela Merkel, US vice president Joe Biden, the Argentine president Cristina Fernandez, Taiwanese president Ying-Jeou Ma, Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, prince Albert of Monaco and Bahrain prince Sheik Abdullah bin Haman bin Isa Alkhalifa, among others. Six sovereign rulers, 31 heads of state, three princes and 11 heads of government attended.

Francis directed his homily to them, saying: “I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”

Among the religious VIPs attending was the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Bartholomew I, who became the first patriarch from the Istanbul-based church to attend a papal investiture since the two branches of Christianity split nearly 1,000 years ago. Also attending for the first time was the chief rabbi of Rome. Their presence underscores the broad hopes for ecumenical and interfaith dialogue in this new papacy.

Francis has made headlines with his simple lifestyle since the moment he appeared to the world on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, eschewing the ermine-lined red velvet cape his predecessor wore in favour of the simple papal white cassock, then paying his own bill at his hotel.

He has also surprised – and perhaps frustrated – his security detail by his impromptu forays into the crowds.

In an indication of his devotion to the Virgin Mary, which is common among Latin American Catholics, Francis prayed by a statue of the Madonna at the end of the service.