The Next Pope Will Be The Last Pope.

[Big Uncle]

Here's an interesting tabloid article about a very popular prophecy that is being actively discussed all over about the impending end of the world after the reign of the next Pope to be or as the Christians call it 'the Apocalypse'. I think that may be true but I don't think it will be the end of our world but perhaps, the end of the Catholic Church as we know it. I am not happy but it does remind me of the prophecy by Lord Buddha of the end of Buddhist teachings.

The Papal Apocalypse! Doomsday fanatics claim next pontiff will be the last according to 12th century Prophecy of the Popes

- Ominous prediction is part of the writings of Irish saint St Malachy.
- He wrote down 112 cryptic phrases which describe each Pope in turn.
- Pope John Paul II is linked to phrase 110 'From the labour of the sun'
- While 111 'glory of the olive' has been associated with Benedict XVI.
- 'When the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful
- Judge will judge the people,' is the 112th and final line

By DANIEL MILLER
PUBLISHED: 13:56 GMT, 13 February 2013 | UPDATED: 16:32 GMT, 13 February 2013

Doomsday fanatics claim that a 12th century prophecy states the successor to Benedict XVI will be the last pope before the end of the world.

After the Mayan 2012 prophecies failed to materialise, apocalypse aficionados have turned their attention to the purported writings of St Malachy, an Irish saint and Archbishop of Armagh, who lived between 1094 and 1148.

St Malachy is said to have travelled to Rome in 1139, where he experienced a vision of future popes, writing down a series of 112 cryptic phrases that described each one in turn. 


Prophecies: St. Malachy, an Irish saint who lived between 1094 and 1148 is said to have travelled to Rome in 1139, where he experienced a vision of future popes

The saint's final prediction 'Petrus Romanus' is now being linked to leading contender Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson.

According to Malachy's visions, 'Petrus Romanus' will be the 112th and final pope after whom it is stated that the 'the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people'.

Although not part of official Catholic teaching, the Prophecy of the Popes is well known by Vatican officials and Catholic scholars.

Naysayers have found ways to successfully link each of the phrases to a corresponding pope throughout the centuries.
 
Pope John Paul II, for instance is associated with phrase No. 110, 'From the labour of the sun,' because he was both born and entombed on the day of a solar eclipse.

And current pope Benedict XVI, is linked to phrase No 111, 'glory of the olive' due to the fact that some members of the monastic order founded by St. Benedict are known as Olivetans.

The ominous phrase No 112, reads: 'In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Petrus Romanus (Peter the Roman), who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people.'



Current Pope Benedict XVI, is linked to phrase No. 111, 'glory of the olive' due to the fact that some members of the monastic order founded by St. Benedict are known as Olivetans, while the final prediction 'Petrus Romanus' is being linked to leading contender for his successor Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson

And with Cardinal Turkson being a member of the Roman Curia or Court of Rome, it is enough to have doomsday prophets heading back to their bunkers.

However many experts believe the so-called 'Prophecy of Popes' is a fake and was made up in an attempt to increase a 16th-century cardinal's chances of becoming pope.

One of the biggest holes is the fact they only came to light in 1595, in a book by Benedictine monk Arnold de Wyon. The original text was said to have lain unnoticed in Rome's archives until Wyon published it.
Sister Madeleine Grace, a historical theologian at the University of St. Thomas who specializes in medieval texts, told NBC News: 'There are just a number of red flags,'

'The material that implies they're talking about future popes is rather scanty indeed, and there are factual errors. ... The likelihood is that they're some kind of forgery.'

'THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER...': SOME FAILED DOOMSDAY PREDICTIONS

While it is an accepted fact that our planet will one day be consumed by the Sun, modern science has calculated that that will not happened for several billion years.

But that hasn't stopped mankind repeatedly predicting that the world is about to end. In fact, doomsday prophecies have been made ever since we started using calendars, with flood, famine, incoming asteroids and nuclear wars among the favoured causes of annihilation.

Biblical scholars point out that in the Book of Matthew, Jesus himself implies that the world will end within the lifetime of his contemporaries, while a host of scholars made similar predictions in the first millennium.
The craze appears to have reached a peak in Europe in the Middle Ages. In 1500, Protestant reformer Martin Luther proclaimed that 'the kingdom of abominations shall be overthrown' within 300 years.

Others to get in on the act included Christopher Columbus (1656), mathematician John Napier (1688) and astrologer Sir Isaac Newton (1948).


The town of Bugarach in the French Pyrenees, with the mountain in the background from which, according to the Mayan prophecy rumour, a spaceship would emerge to carry people to safety


More recently, the fad for making Doomsday predictions has become popular amongst Christian groups in the U.S. According to website Armageddononline, prophecy teacher Doug Clark announced in 1976 that President Jimmy Carter would be 'the president who will meet Mr. 666 - soon', 

And about 50 members of a group called the Assembly of Yahweh gathered at Coney Island, New York, in white robes, awaiting their 'rapture' from a world about to be destroyed on May 25, 1981.

'A small crowd of onlookers watched and waited for something to happen. The members chanted prayers to the beat of bongo drums until sunset. The end did not come,' the website notes.

The year 2000 was also expected to usher in an apocalypse of sorts, with aeroplanes falling from the sky and computer systems crashing. The planet survived. 

In the days leading up to September 9, 2009, fans of Armageddon insisted that the world would end - 9/9/9 being the emergency services phone number in the UK and also the number of the Devil - albeit upside down. Surprisingly there wasn't the same hyperbole on June 6, 2006.

But if the world does manage to get through today unscathed, believers won't have to wait too long before another popular Doomsday prediction date looms.

The Maya civilisation of South America was for several centuries one of the most advanced in the world. Along with their architectural achievements, the Mayans left us with calendars that, some argue, predicted the end of the world on December 21, 2012.

According to internet rumours circulating at the time, a mountain near the French town of Bugarach would burst open just in time for a spaceship to emerge to carry people to safety.

[yontenjamyang]

The end of Buddhist teachings does not necessarily and most unlikely means the end of the world. It simply means that the Dharma is no longer practice and passed on in the world. This is what the Buddha meant. As to all the hype about the Doomsday, we just passed the latest one ie 21/12/2012 and nothing happened.
This is likely to be another one. It may even be a forgery. So just forget it. It does not bring any benefit to anyone except getting everyone who believe it this more deluded.
Why not treat everyday as potential doomsday for each of us individually. After all, even if the whole planet Earth explodes tomorrow into space dust, effectively it just means that we all die individually. The same thing. We should practice the Dharma and transform ourselves immediately and all the way and offer this as the highest offering to our Gurus.

So the title of this topic can be tweaked to, "Today Will Be The Last Day".

[Positive Change]

If we lived our lives thinking this would be our last day of our life and do the best we can with the correct motivation, non of these prophecies of doom will ever matter. After all, the world as we know it ending is all a matter of interpretation anyway... we all have our looming doomsday... our mortality and impending death! The only one sure thing in life when we are born is that we WILL die! Everything else is but a transient delusion...

Only exception being our spiritual growth and journey. Which translated is the karma we create. That is the only universal truth! Hence these constant prophecies of doom for me is laughable really! How we die with regards to the "event" of our death is irrelevant... it is "how" we die with regards to our mindset and how we lived our lives should be the only importance!

[Big Uncle]

If we lived our lives thinking this would be our last day of our life and do the best we can with the correct motivation, non of these prophecies of doom will ever matter. After all, the world as we know it ending is all a matter of interpretation anyway... we all have our looming doomsday... our mortality and impending death! The only one sure thing in life when we are born is that we WILL die! Everything else is but a transient delusion...

Only exception being our spiritual growth and journey. Which translated is the karma we create. That is the only universal truth! Hence these constant prophecies of doom for me is laughable really! How we die with regards to the "event" of our death is irrelevant... it is "how" we die with regards to our mindset and how we lived our lives should be the only importance!

Well, I realize one thing though not everybody who come face-to-face with death would necessarily think spiritually. I have asked friends who are not in Dharma what would they do if they knew they had only a month left to live. The most common answer would be to travel the world and enjoy themselves as much as they could while they still could.

I think people's attachments are stronger than they think and this is without them knowing it. I guess there's a familiarity with their attachments and they don't realize how the attachment brings about a negative situation. I think people don't necessarily believe that and so, we have a lot of beings that being reborn in the 3 lower realms especially in this day and age where materialism and consumerism overwhelms ethics and spirituality of any kind. Hence, Dorje Shugden is still a most effective and powerful solution for this. When practitioners receive the blessings, benefit and kindness of Dorje Shugden, they would be steered towards the Dharma. That's the specialty of Dorje Shugden in this degenerate times.

[kris]

Thank you Big Uncle for sharing such interesting  prophecy about the next pope will be the last.

While I find it entertaining and fun to read, I don't quite believe such prophecies. In fact, most of the so-called prophecies are like entertainment news. They are very vague in their writings, and mostly rely on people who interpret them, which to me, are mostly not accurate anyway. Most of the the "accurate" information are only "accurate" after incidents had happened and people find the paragraphs and "match" them.

I do hope that there are many more Pope to come. In this era where people do not value spiritual practice, it is important to have such spiritual and religion figures to give even more confidence people to practice.

[vajrastorm]

Doomsday or the end of the World is not a belief that Buddhists share with Christians. Samsaric existence is cyclic existence. Samsara and its six realms will still be around until the last sentient being has attained Nirvana, or total freedom from suffering or total Buddhahood.

As HH Dalai Lama says in his book - 'The Universe in a Single Atom -

"At the heart of the Buddhist cosmology is..not only the idea that there are multiple world systems..but also the idea that they are in a constant state of coming into being and passing away".

If the world we live in is destroyed, then we can be reborn in another world system or await  'rebirth' in a new world, 'somewhere'in space. What governs our births and rebirths is our karma.

Knowing the impermanence of worlds and our existence in any rebirth, shouldn't we be using well this precious human rebirth to ensure that we are well set on the path to full enlightenment within this life itself?  Time is so short and uncertain and we are still so crazily bound to our attachments!

[diablo1974]

According to prophecy, the 112th Pope will step up to head the Church, and he will be named Petrus Romanus, or Peter the Roman.

The prophecy in fact is intriguing as its coming closer to the predictions. It might also be the last pope on earth.

    “In  extreme persecution the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman…”
    “Who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrible or fearsome judge will judge his people.
    The End.”
    Prophecy of the Popes – Attributed to St. Malachy circa  1139 A.D.

It doesnt persuade me to believe that it will be the end of the world if there's no pope around.  The world will naturally come to destruction and a new life form will begin its cycle rather that a human holding on to the destruction of nature.

[Big Uncle]

Thank you Big Uncle for sharing such interesting  prophecy about the next pope will be the last.

While I find it entertaining and fun to read, I don't quite believe such prophecies. In fact, most of the so-called prophecies are like entertainment news. They are very vague in their writings, and mostly rely on people who interpret them, which to me, are mostly not accurate anyway. Most of the the "accurate" information are only "accurate" after incidents had happened and people find the paragraphs and "match" them.

I do hope that there are many more Pope to come. In this era where people do not value spiritual practice, it is important to have such spiritual and religion figures to give even more confidence people to practice.

Well, I am not sure if the Church as an institution is going to last very long though because of the overwhelming pressure from court cases and various legalities that the Vatican has to face. It is no secret that the Vatican is not the most spiritual of places. I really don't mean to judge but what is the Church doing with the millions in earning from the European casinos.

I heard that and that the Italian government has frozen millions that the Vatican owns. The weight of all the scandals along with all that money. It is no wonder that the Church would eventually sink under the weight of all its problems. So, to me it would not be surprising if the Church does go down one day and I am not happy about that but it is just the only logical course for the Church considering the problems they are facing However, I still don't wish that of the Christians and I do hope I am wrong.

[hope rainbow]

Well, I am not sure if the Church as an institution is going to last very long though because of the overwhelming pressure from court cases and various legalities that the Vatican has to face. It is no secret that the Vatican is not the most spiritual of places. I really don't mean to judge but what is the Church doing with the millions in earning from the European casinos.

I heard that and that the Italian government has frozen millions that the Vatican owns. The weight of all the scandals along with all that money. It is no wonder that the Church would eventually sink under the weight of all its problems. So, to me it would not be surprising if the Church does go down one day and I am not happy about that but it is just the only logical course for the Church considering the problems they are facing However, I still don't wish that of the Christians and I do hope I am wrong.

To run such a large institution as the catholic church cannot be done without scandals, simply because the sheer size of the enterprise that, after all, only relies upon humans whom though in quest for coherence are not devoid of shortcomings, temptations and delusions.

I think the key here is not to mix up in our mind the teachings of the Christ with the scandals created by failing practitioners. So if, ever, there is the end of the church, it is not the end of spirituality, for spirituality will exist for as long as there are sinners, in other words sentient beings, and christianity will come back as such or under another name, with another messiah, another prophet or even another religion.
The only condition for this to happen is for the "sinners" to have enough merit for this to happen.

[Positive Change]

Pope Francis embarks on historic papacy

Selection of Latin American to lead world's Catholics is described as "geographic and cultural upheaval" for Vatican.

Pope Francis has embarked on a ground-breaking papacy as the first Latin American leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics and a Church in turmoil.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, the humble son of a railwayman, kicked off his first full day as pontiff on Thursday with private prayers at a Rome basilica.

The election of the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, who had not been considered a favourite in the run-up to this week's secret conclave, met with widespread surprise and expressions of hope for a groundswell of change for a Church dogged by scandal and internal conflict.

It was also seen as recognition of the Church's rapid growth in Latin America, which is now home to 40 percent of the world's Catholics, in contrast to its decline in Europe.

"The choice of Bergoglio shows that the Church is determined not to remain in mourning for the crisis in Europe but has opened its doors to the revitalising energy of Catholicism's biggest continent," Vatican expert Luigi Accatoli told the AFP news agency. "It is a momentous step."

The Italian daily La Repubblica, under the headline "Revolution at St Peter's", said the election of the former Jesuit priest represented a "geographic and cultural upheaval" for the Vatican.

'Pray for me'

Francis was elected on Wednesday on the second day of the conclave in Vatican City, after receiving the required two-thirds majority, or at least 77 votes of the 115 cardinal electors from 48 countries.

The 76-year-old from Buenos Aires is the first Jesuit and the first non-European pontiff in nearly 1,300 years.

The Jesuit order, which was founded in the 16th century, has a strong educational focus and takes vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to Christ and the pope.


Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman reports from Argentina

Pope Francis appeared on the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica just over an hour after white smoke poured from a chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel to signal his election.

"Pray for me," the new pontiff, dressed in the white robes of a pope for the first time, urged the crowd.

The news of announcement was met with cheers from hundreds of thousands of crowd gathered under the rain at St Peter's Square in Rome.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the protodeacon, made the announcement with the Latin words, Habemus papam, meaning "We have a pope".

Inaugural mass

Francis succeeds Benedict XVI, who stepped down on February 28, the first pontiff to do so in 598 years.

As a sign of the election of a new pope, the Vatican also reactivated the Twitter account @Pontifex. 

Francis spoke by phone with Benedict XVI after his election and plans to see him in the coming days, the Vatican said.

Jubilant Argentines poured into churches, some crying and praying, after the announcement at the Vatican.

"This is a blessing for Argentina," one woman shouted on a Buenos Aires street.

"I hope he changes all the luxury that exists in the Vatican, that he steers the church in a more humble direction, something closer to the gospel," Jorge Andres Lobato, a 73-year-old retired state prosecutor, said.

Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from Buenos Aires, described the reaction in the Argentinian capital as "absolute shock".

"Nobody expected him to become pope," our correspondent said. "People here are crying".

Challenges ahead

Father Robert Gahl of Holy Cross University told Al Jazeera that the name Francis was "indicative of something historical".


Follow coverage of the papal conclave's decision
Gahl described as "striking" the reaction to the new pope, which he said was "way superior to what occured eight years ago, which may be a surprise to some".

With the election of the new pope, Vatican now faces several key challenges.

"Much was made about whether the new pope would be one who focused on pastoral care - speaking to the faithful around the world or would he be one who tries to reform the Vatican," Jack Valero, director of the Catholic Voices organisation, told Al Jazeera.

"In reality, he needs to do both."


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/03/201333195113420293.html#.UUHmQWW5KMo.google

[Positive Change]

Profile: Pope Francis

An austere Jesuit intellectual who modernised what had been one of the most conservative churches in Latin America.

Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio, elected the new pope on March 13, has chosen the papal name Francis, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.

Bergoglio, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernised what had been one of the most conservative Roman Catholic churches in Latin America, has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing many churches and priests.

The 76-year-old reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election, and he has long specialised in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope.

Initially trained as a chemist, Bergoglio taught literature, psychology, philosophy and theology before taking over as Buenos Aires archbishop in 1998.

"In just six years, he went from being a priest in a small convent in a province, to being archbishop of Buenos Aires and future Cardinal Primate of Argentina. His career has been meteoric." Bergoglio's authorised biographer, Sergio Rubin, said.

Bergoglio became cardinal in 2001, when the economy was collapsing, and won respect for blaming unrestrained capitalism for impoverishing millions of Argentines.

Political influence

Bergoglio is known for his efforts to repair the reputation of a church that lost many followers by failing to openly challenge Argentina's murderous 1976-1983 dictatorship.

He also worked to recover the church's traditional political influence in society.

But his influence seemed to stop at the presidential palace door after Nestor Kirchner and then his wife, Cristina Fernandez, took over the Argentina's government.

His outspoken criticism could not prevent Argentina from becoming the Latin American country to legalise gay marriage, or stop Fernandez from promoting free contraception and artificial insemination.

His church had no say when the Argentine Supreme Court expanded access to legal abortions in rape cases, and when Bergoglio argued that gay adoptions discriminate against children, Fernandez compared his tone to "medieval times and the Inquisition".

Like other Jesuit intellectuals, Bergoglio has focused on social outreach.

Powerful speech

Catholics are still buzzing over his speech last year accusing fellow church officials of hypocrisy for forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes.

"In our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don't baptise the children of single mothers because they weren't conceived in the sanctity of marriage," Bergoglio told his priests.

"These are today's hypocrites. ... And this poor girl who, rather than returning the child to sender, had the courage to carry it into the world, must wander from parish to parish so that it's baptised," he has said.

Bergoglio compared this concept of Catholicism, "this Church of 'come inside so we make decisions and announcements between ourselves and those who don't come in, don't belong'", to the Pharisees of Christ's time: people who congratulate themselves while condemning others.

As Argentina's top church official, he has never lived in the ornate church mansion, preferring a simple bed in a downtown room heated by a small stove on frigid weekends.

For years, he took public transportation around the city, and cooked his own meals.

Bergoglio has slowed a bit with age and is feeling the effects of having a lung removed due to infection when he was a teenager - two strikes against him at a time when many Vatican watchers say the next pope should be relatively young and strong.

[hope rainbow]

Pope Francis, giving his clearest indication yet that he wants a more austere Catholic Church, said on Saturday that it should be poor and remember that its mission is to serve the poor.

Francis, speaking mostly off-the-cuff and smiling often, made his comments in an audience for journalists where he explained why he chose to take the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi, a symbol of peace, austerity and poverty.

He called Francis "the man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man", and added: "Oh, how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor."

Since his election on Wednesday as the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years, Francis has signaled a sharp change of style from his predecessor, Benedict, and has laid out a clear moral path for the 1.2-billion-member Church, which is beset by scandals, intrigue and strife.

He thanked the thousands of journalists who had covered his election but invited them to "always try to better understand the true nature of the Church, and even its journey in the world, with its virtues and with its sins".

He urged journalists to seek "truth, goodness and beauty" in the world and in the Church.

Francis has set a forceful moral tone and given clear signs already that he will bring a new broom to the crisis-hit papacy, favoring humility and simplicity over pomp and grandeur.

He recalled how on Wednesday night, as he was receiving more and more votes in the conclave, the cardinal sitting next to him, Claudio Hummes of Brazil, comforted him "as the situation became dangerous".

After the voting reached the two-thirds majority that elected him, applause broke out. Hummes, 78, then hugged and kissed him and told him "Don't forget the poor", the pope recounted, often gesturing with his hands.

"That word entered here," he added, pointing to his head.

While the formal voting continued, the pope recalled: "I thought of wars .... and Francis (of Assisi) is the man of peace, and that is how the name entered my heart, Francis of Assisi, for me he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects others."

It was the latest indication that the pope wanted the worldwide Church to take on an austere style.

On the night he was elected he shunned the papal limousine and travelled on a bus with other cardinals. He went to the Church-run hotel where he had been staying before the conclave and insisted on paying the bill.

Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, has also urged Argentines not to make costly trips to Rome to see him but to give the money to the poor instead.

RESPECT NATURE

St. Francis of Assisi, who died in 1226, renounced his family's fortune for a life of charity and poverty and is also revered by environmentalists because he loved nature and preached to animals.

"Right now, we don't have a very good relation with creation," the pope said.

He said that Catholics should remember that Jesus, not the pope, was the centre of the Church. At the end of his address, switching from Italian into Spanish, he also made a gesture to non-believers and members of other religions.

"I told you I would willingly give you a blessing. Since many of you do not belong to the Catholic Church and others are non-believers, from the bottom of my heart I give this silent blessing to each and every one of you, respecting the conscience of each one of you but knowing that each one of you is a child of God. May God bless all of you," he said.

CONTRAST WITH BENEDICT

The Vatican has strongly denied accusations by some critics in Argentina that Francis stayed silent during systematic human rights abuses by the former military dictatorship in his home country.

Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters on Friday that the accusations "must be clearly and firmly denied".

Critics of Bergoglio, the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, allege he failed to protect priests who challenged the dictatorship earlier in his career, during the 1976-1983 "dirty war", and that he has said too little about the complicity of the Church during military rule.

The new pope's outgoing nature and sense of humor differs notably from the much more formal Benedict, who last month became the first pope in 600 years to resign.

On Friday, Francis hugged cardinals, slapped them on the back, broke into animated laughter and blessed religious objects one cardinal pulled out of a plastic shopping bag.

The Vatican said Francis would visit Benedict on March 23 at the papal summer residence south of Rome where the former pontiff will live until he moves into a convent in the Vatican which is undergoing renovations.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan - http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/16/us-pope-poor-idUSBRE92F05P20130316)

[Benny]

To talk about this topic on the End of the World prediction, to a Buddhist is like telling them that you have a prediction that we ALL will grow old and die soon, LOL pun intended.

To some Buddhist this is something they contemplate on daily as a practice, to embrace the truth of impermanence. So to most Buddhist, this type of hype on prophecies just wont effect them in the least.

I can totally agree with Vajrastorm's approach to this topic and i find it as the best and most befitting of a Buddhist.

As HH Dalai Lama says in his book - 'The Universe in a Single Atom -

"At the heart of the Buddhist cosmology is..not only the idea that there are multiple world systems..but also the idea that they are in a constant state of coming into being and passing away".

If the world we live in is destroyed, then we can be reborn in another world system or await  'rebirth' in a new world, 'somewhere'in space. What governs our births and rebirths is our karma.

[hope rainbow]

Maybe the last pope, but not the worse, in the short time that he has taken the papal seat, he has made a number of changes... Check this video on you tube where the pope washes prisoners's feet and kisses them. the prisoners are atheists, they are also muslims...

He no more wears the glamorous red leather shoes, he prefers to stay in a small suite at the Vatican hotel rather than move into the grand papal apartments, he does not use bullet-proof "pope-mobile" anymore, he still uses public transports...

Pope washes feet of prisoners

This is a pope that is meant to be very popular in a world in crisis, in economical crisis I mean, a pope in which many will recognize outstanding values, those of humility and service most clearly.

[Jessie Fong]

Pope Franics, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936, is the 266th and present Pope of the Catholic Church. He was born of Italian descent in Buenos Aires and before entering the seminary, he worked as a chemical technician. He chose the papal name Francis in honor of St Francis of Assisi. He is the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere.

He is known for his humility, his concern for the poor and commitment to dialogue.
 
So, how do we address Pope Francis?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
The official style of the Pope in English is His Holiness Pope Francis; in Latin, Franciscus, Episcopus Romae. Holy Father is another honorific often used for popes.

His full title, rarely used, is:
His Holiness Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God.

It is customary when referring to popes to translate the regnal name into local languages. Thus he is Papa Franciscus in Latin (the official language of the Holy See), Papa Francesco in Italian (the language of the Vatican), Papa Francisco in his native Spanish, and Pope Francis in English.