Vatican Rejects Argentine Accusations Against Pope Francis - New York Times

[Diablo]

ROME — On the second day of his papacy, Pope Francis offered warm praise on Friday to his predecessor, Benedict XVI, saying that his nearly eight years as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics had “lit a flame in the depths of our hearts.”

After a day on Thursday when he seemed to bring a new and more frugal tone to the Vatican, Francis spoke to the cardinals — the so-called princes of the church — urging them to persevere and find ways to spread word of their faith around the world.
“Let us not give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day,” he said. But he offered no direct allusion to the myriad challenges facing the Vatican from a series of sexual abuse, financial and other scandals swirling around the church, overwhelming Benedict’s papacy.
The new pope, 76, stumbled briefly as he greeted the dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, but swiftly recovered from the trip.
Since his very first appearance after he secured a majority among the 115 cardinals eligible to participate in secret papal ballot on Wednesday, Francis has offered enthusiastic tribute to Benedict, now pope emeritus. Vatican officials said he planned at some stage to visit with him at the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.
Last month, Benedict became the first pope in six centuries to resign, citing failing powers and old age and precipitating a scramble for the succession in which Francis was not widely seen as being among the front-runners.
In his first audience with the cardinals, Francis told them that Benedict’s papacy and teachings had “enriched and invigorated" the Catholic Church and had “lit a flame in the depths of our hearts that will continue to burn because it is fueled by his prayers that will support the church on its missionary path.”
Sometimes speaking without notes, Francis observed that many of the cardinals were of advanced age, and he told them: “Let us give this wisdom to young people; like good wine, it becomes better with age. Let us give to young people the wisdom of life.”
After his remarks, Francis greeted the cardinals one by one, shaking their hands and hugging some. He also accepted letters and presents from them, including a yellow bracelet that he immediately wore on his right wrist.
On Thursday, on his first full day as pope, Francis stopped off at a Vatican residence to pay his hotel bill and pick up his luggage, a day after becoming pope, dramatically shifting the tone of the papacy.
Whereas Benedict was a theologian who favored scarlet slippers, ermine-lined cloaks and erudite homilies, reviving papal fashions from centuries past, Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, appeared Thursday to be sending a message of radical humility.
“This choice indicates above all a style for the church: simplicity, poverty, rigor,” said the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, a Jesuit journal close to the Vatican Secretariat of State.
Gaia Pianigiani reported from Rome and Alan Cowell from London.