Pope Gave His First Blessing

Pope Francis gave his first Angelus blessing to a crowd of about 300,000 people at the Vatican yesterday, calling for mercy as Jesus demonstrated in the biblical account of the woman caught in adultery. However, back in his native country, Argentina, accusers continued to raise questions about his past.

"Brothers and sisters, good morning," the new pope said informally as he began his address from the window of the papal apartments overlooking St Peter's Square. "I'm pleased to greet you on Sunday, which is fitting as it is the day of the Lord," he told the cheering crowd that chanted his name in Italian, "Francesco, Francesco, Francesco."

"A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just," Reuters quoted Francis as saying.

The pope based his short sermon on the biblical story of the crowd that wanted to stone a woman who had committed adultery but was saved by Jesus, who told them "let he among you who is without sin, cast the first stone" before telling the woman "go and sin no more."

"I think even we are sometimes like these people, who on the one hand want to listen to Jesus, but on the other hand, sometimes we like to stone others and condemn others. The message of Jesus is this: mercy," the pope said.

Source:Christianpost