The Pope's push for change stirs anxiety and hope

Vatican City

DAYS after the election of Pope Francis, word reached the Vatican press office that the new pontiff was unexpectedly celebrating morning Mass. Other popes had presided over morning services, too, but as the world (and the Vatican press office) would soon realise, Francis did things his own way.

This Mass was offered in the small chapel of the Vatican guesthouse where Francis had chosen to live - not, as in years past, at the ornate Apostolic Palace. His audience was not the cardinals of the Roman Curia but gardeners, janitors and Vatican office workers. And Francis was not merely presiding, as had Pope John Paul II. He was preaching, without notes, as if he were a simple parish priest.