Pope to inaugurate his pontificate on Tuesday

March 18, 2013 - Pope Francis will formally inaugurate his pontificate on Tuesday, March 19, with a solemn open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square, which will be attended by some 250 Church dignitaries, 132 delegates and heads of nation or government, delegations of Christian Churches and other religions, as well as priests, seminarians and faithful. Explaining the ceremony to reporters on Monday, Holy See’s spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said that ahead of the 9.30 am Mass, Pope Francis will start from his temporary residence of the Vatican’s Santa Martha hostel, driving his popemobile among the people in St. Peter’s Square for a while on his way to the sacristy. After dressing up for Mass, Pope Francis, accompanied by 10 patriarchs and major archbishops of Oriental Catholic Churches, will go down to the tomb of St. Peter in the crypt under the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, where they will pick up the pallium, the fisherman’s ring and the Gospels, which are the symbols of the Petrine ministry of the new Pope. They will emerge from the Basilica along with other cardinals, archbishops and bishops into the open in the square. Before the start of the Mass, the Argentine Pope will be conferred the papal ring and the pallium by two cardinals. On behalf of all those present, six cardinals will pledge their obedience and allegiance to Pope Francis. Some 500 priests will be at hand to distribute communion to the faithful. No tickets are required for attending the inaugural Mass. Pope Francis' papal coat of arms is based on the same simple one as he had previously as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.