Pope Francis rides bus instead of limo, pays own hotel bill

[UrbScotty]

He's off to an impressive start:

Even before Election Night ended, the stories of a starkly different style for the 266th pontiff started streaming out: Papa Bergoglio's decision in the Sistine Chapel to shirk the elevated papal throne and stand at ground level to receive the traditional "obedience" of the cardinals, then ditch the Pope's motorcade and ride back to the Domus as he came – with the cardinals on the bus (above left, repeating the exercise before tonight's Mass).

And then there was this morning. The papal Mercedes – waiting again, this time to take Francis on his intended visit to St Mary Major – was again left behind in favor of a stock Volkswagen. And on the way back to his new home – which Boston's Capuchin Cardinal Seán O'Malley compared to "being a prisoner in a museum" – the Pope called for a detour to the Domus Paulus VI, the clergy lodging across the Tiber that was his pre-Conclave hotel, to collect his things, check out and pay the bill himself (below).

As the afternoon press briefing noted, Francis wanted to "set an example" by personally running the errand and settling the tab with his own money.

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2013/03/on-day-one-riding-bus-and-paying-bills.html

[mykpart]

1. I hope he will be an example to all the

self-important old men in the Vatican. I'm praying for him and for all of them.