Roman holy day
THE Catholic Church will roll out the red carpet for world leaders and crowned heads attending the inauguration mass of Pope Francis as he embarks on a groundbreaking papacy.
The occasion later today promises to contrast with the pomp and circumstance normally associated with grand church occasions, given the disarmingly humble style the new Pope has shown in his first days as the first Latin American leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
An event that poses an inevitable protocol headache for the Vatican — no official invitations are involved, and some VIPs may turn up unannounced — will also be a first test of the former Buenos Aires archbishop’s ability to navigate choppy diplomatic waters.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his French counterpart JeanMarc Ayrault are among key European leaders expected to attend, along with EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso. US Vice-President Joe Biden, a practising Catholic, arrived late on Sunday to represent Washington at the event precipitated by the shock resig- nation of Francis’s predecessor Benedict XVI.
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, with whom the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as Buenos Aires archbishop, had tense relations because of opposing views on homosexuality and birth control, is also in Rome.
Another potentially difficult presence will be that of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who is under a travel ban by the European Union but is diplomatically entitled to travel to the sovereign city state of the Holy See.
The mass is expected to attract hundreds of thousands to Rome — authorities say they are planning for up to one million people.
The capacity of the vast square is only some 50,000, with more than 100,000 others expected to fill the Via della Conciliazione leading up to the square.