Pope welcomes Merkel, other world leaders
- 11 years ago
His inaugural mass drew royalty from all over Europe Afterward, world leaders waited patiently in line to greet Pope Francis.
They included Germany's Angela Merkel. Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and who's who of Latin America including Brazil's Dilma Roussef. Chile's Sebastian Pinera and of course Argentina's Cristina Fernandez.
Addressing an audience of 200,000 people including some of the world's most powerful leaders, Pope Francis underscored the need to defend the poor and disadvantaged
His homily was simple and straightforward -- a whole hour shorter than his predecessor.
The man elected by his peers to lead the church's 1.2 billion members, earned high praise from many of the cardinals.
(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN CARDINAL, GIUSEPPE VERSALDI, SAYING:
"The serenity and simplicity of the pope's wise words gave us a lot of encouragement."
SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. CARDINAL, EDWIN O'BRIEN, SAYING:
"Well I
They included Germany's Angela Merkel. Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and who's who of Latin America including Brazil's Dilma Roussef. Chile's Sebastian Pinera and of course Argentina's Cristina Fernandez.
Addressing an audience of 200,000 people including some of the world's most powerful leaders, Pope Francis underscored the need to defend the poor and disadvantaged
His homily was simple and straightforward -- a whole hour shorter than his predecessor.
The man elected by his peers to lead the church's 1.2 billion members, earned high praise from many of the cardinals.
(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN CARDINAL, GIUSEPPE VERSALDI, SAYING:
"The serenity and simplicity of the pope's wise words gave us a lot of encouragement."
SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. CARDINAL, EDWIN O'BRIEN, SAYING:
"Well I