World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Pope Francis greets faithful at the Vatican, Sunday, March 17. (AP Photo/Antonello Nusca)

Walking up to crowds, shaking hands with surprised bystanders in the street, mixing his formal speeches with off-the-cuff remarks, Pope Francis stamped his own style on the papacy Sunday.

His humour and down-to-earth manner captivated those filling St. Peter's Square in Rome to overflowing, and he worked the crowd in a way that had to give his security staff palpitations. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, in the square himself, estimated the crowd's size at 300,000.

"Brothers and sisters, 'Buon giorno,'" Francis said in Italian in his first welcome from the window of the papal residence, setting an informal tone that has become the defining spirit of his young papacy.

Earlier Sunday, he made an impromptu appearance before the public from a side gate of the Vatican that startled passers-by and prompted cheers as he shook hands and kissed babies. He then went back inside to deliver a six minute homily, brief by church standards, at the Vatican's tiny parish church, St. Anna.