When the cardinals voted to elect Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 265th successor of St. Peter on the evening of March 13, 2013, few of them imagined what kind of pope he would be.
Just halfway through his period of convalescence, Pope Francis not only appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday to give the Urbi et Orbi blessing—to the city of Rome (“urbi”) and to the world (“orbi”)—but he also drove among the crowd in his jeep.
“You don’t do that!” That is what Arturo Sosa, S.J., the superior general of the Jesuits, would say to President Trump about his mass deportation of undocumented migrants if he had the opportunity to meet him.
Asked whether the pope would meet with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert who will be in Rome for the Easter weekend, the director of the Holy See Press office said he did not have information on that.
A Jerusalem Voice for Justice released a statement expressing solidarity with the Palestinians suffering in Gaza and the West Bank and appealing for help from their fellow Christians worldwide “who see our wounds but do not speak out.”
His appearance today was unannounced but not unexpected as Swiss Guards were posted around the square, a sign that the pope would be present at some point.
Mr. Bruni said the pope is in “good humor” and happy to get out of his suite at the Casa Santa Marta and surprise people, as we saw yesterday, April 10, when the pope appeared in St. Peter’s Basilica.