Pope marks anniversary with prayer and a tweet

VATICAN — Pope Francis yesterday marked the first anniversary of his election with a tweet urging his followers to pray for him, as he himself spent the day in solemn reflection on a spiritual retreat.

In keeping with Francis's tendency to eschew much of the pomp and ceremony associated with his role, the anniversary was not marked in any official way, with the exception of a solitary tweet from the official @ Pontifex account.

" Please pray for me," the 77- year- old wrote to his 12 million followers in nine languages, echoing an appeal he made in his first address to followers from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica exactly one year ago.

Francis was spending the day on a pre- Easter spiritual retreat in the Castelli Romani, a picturesque area on the southeastern outskirts of Rome.

He left the Vatican on Sunday after his weekly blessing and will return on Friday.

The Lenten retreat is a regular fixture in the Vatican calendar and its focus on self- denial, penance and repentance chimes with the tone of the Francis papacy.

" He did not want anything different from usual," said his spokesman Federico Lombardi. " It is his way to be solemn and to insist on prayer."

The Argentinian pope's extraordinary popularity has helped increase church attendance around the world but it has also fuelled the growth of a cult of personality that he has denounced as inappropriate.

" Portraying the pope as a kind of superman, a type of star, it seems offensive," Francis recently told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

More than anything, the pope's first year in office has been marked by his apparently sincere determination to maintain the kind of simple lifestyle the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio has had throughout his career as a priest.