Pope Francis tells atheists: Do good and we will meet one another

Pope Francis has said people of all religions – and none at all – ‘have a duty to do good’.

The Roman Catholic leader said atheists and believers alike must ‘meet one another doing good’.He made the comments during the homily of his morning Mass on Wednesday.

The Pontiff told a story of a Catholic who asked a priest if atheists were redeemed by Jesus.According to a report of his words on Vatican Radio, he said: ‘Even the atheists. Everyone.‘We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ has redeemed us all.‘We all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace.

‘If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good.

’The Pope posed a hypothetical comment from an atheist saying they did not believe, which was met with the response: ‘But do good: we will meet one another there.’

Pope Emeritus Benedict's health has worsened

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has deteriorated, the Vatican has revealed.

Senior church officials were forced to make their fears public after a respected Vatican expert declared 'we won't have him with us for very much longer'.

The 85-year-old, who stepped down in February, has looked increasingly frail in his few public appearances.

He is reported to have appeared unsteady on his feet when his successor, Pope Francis, visited him at the papal summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo near Rome recently.

He is respected though, for stepping down when he did.

Pope Francis appeals for peace, end to Korea tensions

Pope Francis used his first Easter Sunday address to call for peace in the world and appealed for a diplomatic solution to the crisis on the Korean peninsula. In his first "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message, Francis also called for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, an end to the civil war in Syria, and political solutions to conflicts in several African countries.

Francis delivered his message from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica - the same spot from where he first appeared to the world as pope after his election on March 13 - to a crowd estimated by the Vatican at at least 250,000 people. "Peace in Asia, above all on the Korean peninsula: may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow," he said, speaking in Italian.

Pope Francis settles for two rooms

Pope Francis has decided to shun a grand papal apartment on the top floor of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace in favour of a modest two-room residence.

His spokesman said he was "trying out this type of simple living" in a communal building with other priests.

In doing so he has broken a tradition which is more than a century old.

The decision reinforces the newly-elected Pope's austere reputation. As archbishop of Buenos Aires he refused to move into the Bishop's Palace.

Preferring more modest accommodation, he also often cooked his own meals

Messi proud of new Pope

Pope Francis holding up a jersey

Reigning world footballer of the year Lionel Messi on Thursday admitted his pride at hearing that the new Pope was from his home country Argentina.
“It is a source of pride for all Argentines that the Pope is from here,” said Messi, the captain of the Argentine national team, at a press conference on the eve of his country’s 2014 World Cup qualifier against Venezuela in Buenos Aires.
“Obviously I would like to meet him,” he added.
The new Pope Francis is known to be a football fan and a follower of Buenos Aires club San Lorenzo.

Pope Francis Inauguration pictures

The lnauguration mass of Pope Francis at The St. Peter's square.

Pope Francis sets out to defend weak, poor and the environment in first mass

Pope Francis has urged the princes, presidents, sheiks and thousands of ordinary people gathered for his installation mass to protect the environment, the weakest and the poorest as he set out his priorities as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

The Argentinian – the first pope from Latin America and the first named after St Francis of Assisi – said a little bit of tenderness could "open up a horizon of hope".The Vatican said between 150,000-200,000 people attended the mass, held under bright blue skies after days of rain.In Buenos Aires, thousands of people packed the central Plaza de Mayo square to watch the celebration on giant TV screens. They erupted in joy when Francis called them from Rome, his words broadcast to the crowd over loudspeakers."I want to ask a favour," Francis told them. "I want to ask you to walk together, and take care of one another … and don't forget that this bishop who is far away loves you very much. Pray for me."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".

He said the role of the pope was to open his arms and protect all of humanity: "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."Francis, 76, thrilled the crowd at the start of the mass by 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.The blue and white flags from Argentina fluttered above the crowd, which Italian media initially estimated could reach 1 million. Civil protection crews closed the main streets leading to the square to traffic and set up mile-long barricades to try to control the throng and allow official delegations through.

Pope Francis elected as 266th Roman Catholic pontiff

Catholic church on Wednesday chose as their new pope a man from almost "the end of the world" – the first non-European to be elected for almost 1,300 years and the first-ever member of the Jesuit order.Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, becomes Pope Francis – the first pontiff to take that name – an early indication perhaps of a reign he hopes will be marked by inspirational preaching and evangelisation.But the cardinals' choice risked running into immediate controversy over the new pope's role in Argentina's troubled history.

In his book, El Silencio, a prominent Argentinian journalist alleged that he connived in the abduction of two Jesuit priests by the military junta in the so-called "dirty war". He denies the accusation.The new pope appeared on the balcony over the entrance to St Peter's basilica more than an hour after white smoke poured from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, signalling that the cardinals had made their choice. Dressed in his new white robes, the bespectacled Argentinian prelate looked pensive and perhaps a little intimidated as he looked out at the sea of jubilant humanity in the square.The former Cardinal Bergoglio was not among the front-runners. But he obtained more votes than any other candidate except former pope Benedict in the 2005 conclave, and – although his election came as a surprise – he was certainly not a rank outsider.According to some accounts, he was not chosen eight years ago because he begged his fellow cardinals not to continue voting for him. As he uttered his first words – "buona sera" – and the cheering died away, he told the crowd that his peers had been tasked with finding a bishop of Rome. "And it seems that they went almost to the end of the world to find him. But we're here," he said with a smile.

After a prayer for his predecessor, Benedict XVI, the new pope invited the faithful in the square to "pray for the entire world". He added: "I hope that this path for the church will be one fruitful for evangelisation."Faced with a sharp choice between those cardinals who wanted a thorough shake-up of the Vatican and those who did not, it appeared the electors in the Sistine Chapel opted for compromise. Bergoglio has a reputation for both political canniness and reforming drive. Among the tests facing the 76-year-old will be the awesome managerial demands of the job.

The fumata bianca – the white smoke signal that marks the successful conclusion of a conclave – arrived after five ballots at the end of the second day of voting. The smoke that poured out of the comignolo, the copper and steel tube on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, was greeted with cries of delight and applause from the crowd below. Soon after, the bells of St Peter's rang out, confirming that a new pope had taken over the spiritual leadership of the world's 1.2 billion baptised Catholics.Inside the Sistine Chapel after the final vote was cast, the most junior of the cardinals, James Harvey, a former prefect of the papal household, called in the secretary of the college of cardinals, Monsignor Lorenzo Baldisseri, and the master of papal liturgical ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, to witness the new pope's acceptance of one of the most daunting jobs on Earth.The most senior of the electors, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, approached the pope-to-be and – in accordance with tradition – asked him in Latin: "Do you accept your canonical election as supreme pontiff?"Having obtained his consent, he will have asked: "By what name do you wish to be called?" The master of ceremonies, acting as a notary, will then have summoned two of his staff to act as witnesses, and prepared the document that certifies the new pope's acceptance.Newly elected popes are taken to be robed in the Room of Tears, its name an indication of the reluctance with which most approach the task. The last holder of the office, Benedict XVI, introduced a change in the ritual that allows the new pope to pray before he is announced to the world.Benedict abdicated on 28 February, saying that he was no longer able to cope with the burden of his office. He was the first pontiff to resign voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294.

The world's Catholics will be looking to his successor to provide not only spiritual inspiration but also firm leadership. The new pope was chosen against a background of turbulence and strife unprecedented in modern times. He takes on the leadership of a church whose faithful have been shocked by a proliferation of clerical sex abuse scandals throughout the rich world and dismayed by events in and around the Vatican.The day for the 115 cardinal-electors began at about 6.30am local time in the Casa Santa Marta, their simple but comfortable – and highly protected – residence in the walled city state. After breakfast, they made their way to the Apostolic Palace, the home of the popes, for morning mass in the Pauline Chapel. By about 9.30am, they had settled themselves into the Sistine Chapel for prayers and the resumption of voting.Benedict's startling decision to resign came after years of mounting tension and discreet but venomous infighting in the Roman Curia, the central administration of the Catholic church. Last year, some of the pope's correspondence, pointing to bitter rivalries and maladministration – or worse – in the Vatican was published in book form.Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was tried and imprisoned for leaking the documents, but the journalist to whom the papers were passed has said that his source was part of a much broader network of disaffected Vatican employees and officials. Gabriele's arrest coincided with a renewed controversy over the Vatican bank, whose chairman was summarily dismissed last May.The scandals – and a string of controversies over the pope's own declarations – distracted attention from what was expected to be the central theme of his papacy.

Benedict came to the leadership of the Catholic church as the pope who would begin the process of re-evangelising an increasingly secular western world.That too will be an important challenge for his successor. In the approach to the conclave several cardinals said they wanted a great pastor for the world's biggest Christian denomination.No indication of how or why the new pope was chosen was expected to emerge. On Tuesday, before the start of the conclave, the cardinal-electors took an oath of secrecy, as had those Vatican employees and officials involved in the election.Additional precautions included a sweep of the Sistine Chapel to ensure that no listening devices had been planted inside and the use of electronic jamming techniques.

Argentine Jorge Bergoglio is the new pope

Argentine Jorge Bergoglio is the new pope and he has chosen the name Pope Francis.  He us the first pope frombthe Americas

The 76-year-old was the runner-up to Benedict XVI during the last conclave. He is well-known for his humility and espouses church teachings on homosexuality, abortion and contraception. He has no Vatican experience.The emergence of white smoke from a chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican shortly after 7 p.m. local time in Rome indicated to the world that cardinals had elected a new head of the Roman Catholic Church.Elated crowds in St. Peter's Square screamed as the white smoke emerged, under a sea of umbrellas on a cold and sometimes rainy evening.