UNITED STATES
CNN
By Michael D’Antonio, Special to CNN
updated 11:44 AM EDT, Sat April 13, 2013
Editor’s note: Michael D’Antonio is the author of “Mortal Sins, Sex, Crime and the Era of Catholic Scandal.” He is a former religion writer for Newsday.
(CNN) — Thirty days of signs and signals have revealed to the world in Francis I, a pope who seems eager to earn the title pontiff, or bridge-builder. Beginning with his choice of a name, which evokes the beloved image of St. Francis of Assisi, the former cardinal of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, put the world on notice that change was afoot by forgoing the fancy red slippers and ermine stole favored by other popes.
Since then he has shown a remarkable common touch in his encounters with the public and greater sensitivity to others than the man who came before him.
Try as he did, Francis’ immediate predecessor, Benedict XVI, never looked comfortable in his own skin, let alone in pastoral contact with others. Clad in his ornate robes, he seemed to keep the world at arm’s length in a way that betrayed his long service as Rome’s “Rottweiler” (a nickname he received from the press) in charge of disciplining those who deviated from doctrine.
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