Pope Francis has called for decisive action in the fight against sex abuse of minors by priests. He told Bishop Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith - the Vatican watchdog that deals with sex abuse cases - to ensure that perpetrators were punished.
Pope Francis, who has said he wants the Catholic Church to be a model of austerity and honesty, could restructure or even close the Vatican's scandal-ridden bank as part of a broad review of its troubled bureaucracy, Vatican sources say.
Pope Francis is scheduled to make his first official visit to Argentina, where he was born, next December ‘to be close to his fellow compatriots’, according to ecclesiastic sources in Buenos Aires. The visit in the first half of December could extend to neighbouring Uruguay and Chile.
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman rejected allegations about an alleged “discrediting operation” by Argentina’s ambassador to the Vatican Juan Pablo Cafiero to stop the election of former Buenos Aires city archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new pope and denied that the government has changed its opinion about now Francis.
Argentines are lucky because they have a great Pope, but “if the Pope is Argentine, God is Brazilian”, said Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff on Wednesday following her half hour meeting with Francis and asked by Argentine reporters her impression of the new pontiff.
Pope Francis on Tuesday inaugurated his papacy with a Mass in front of hundreds of thousands of people, foreign leaders and the Orthodox Christians Patriarch (first time since the great schism of 1054) in St. Peter's Square with a simplified rite that fuelled hopes for change in the scandal-plagued Roman Catholic Church.
Under bright sunshine in St. Peter's Square, the Argentine pope insisted with his constant message since he was elected by a secret conclave of cardinals last week: that the Church's mission was to defend the poor and disadvantaged. Francis also called on leaders to protect the people and respect the environment.
As thousands of Argentine Catholics were congregated at Plaza de Mayo in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral, where huge screens and Vatican and Argentine flags were set up for people to joyfully celebrate the beginning of Francis’ papacy, the Pontiff surprised the masses with an unexpected phone call.
A Franciscan friar tortured and killed by Argentina’s last civil-military dictatorship, could become the first religious leader to be beatified by Pope Francis according to a piece in the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
The Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza is sceptical about a possible mediation from Pope Francis between Argentina and the UK over the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute as was requested by President Cristina Fernandez.