Pope Francis
Lionel Messi will achieve his goal to meet Pope Francis.
Pope Francis will be visiting Rio this week and he has refused to be carried through the city in the traditional, safe, bullet-proof Popemobile. He has chosen instead to ride a open to top jeep that allows him to be closer to the people.
Pope Francis blessed 35,000 Harley Davidson riders at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican on Sunday, in commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the motorcycle.
Pope Francis and the Vatican asked Catholics worldwide to join the Holy See on Sunday, June 2nd between 5-6 PM Rome time (11 AM - 12 PM EDT) in Eucharistic adoration (ie praying before a consecrated communion host). It was the first worldwide holy hour ever called.
Today, on Holy Thursday, newly elected Pope Francis celebrated the Roman Catholic ritual by washing the feet of young inmates in a juvenile detention center.
In an interview last year, Pope Francis suggested that the celibacy requirement for priests "can change" adding that he, too, was tempted by a woman as a young seminarian.
Pope Francis' maintained diplomacy while meeting with his political nemesis Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Monday.
On Wednesday Argentina Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was chosen to succeed Pope Benedict XVI and lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. Though Pope Francis' election symbolized a fresh outlook for Roman Catholic believers, he endorses traditional church teachings that many progressives object.
Less than 24-hours after he was greeted by over a hundred thousand people at Vatican City and the tens of millions watching on television sets around the world, the new head of the Catholic church Pope Francis I quietly left the Vatican to pray privately at one of Rome's renowned basilicas.
On Wednesday, Roman Catholics cheered as the world welcomed newly elected pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a 76-year-old Argentinean Cardinal who is now referred to as Pope Francis.Yet, despite the fresh dynamic that Francis offers as a leader, critics point out that he maintains the same conservative religous viewpoints on homosexuality.
Along with his name, Argentine Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio will be giving up his humble apartment in Buenos Aires for St. Peter's Basilica and title of Pope Francis I. But is he the leader the church desperately needs.
