Even after he became Argentina's top church official in 2001, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio never lived in the ornate church mansion that Pope John Paul II stayed in when visiting, preferring simple rooms in a downtown building, warmed by a small stove on frigid weekends when the heat was turned off.
In that same vein, Francis announced this week that he wasn't moving into the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace and would stay instead in the Vatican's Santa Marta residence, the antiseptically clean, institutional-style hotel where he and the 114 cardinals who elected him pope were sequestered during the conclave.
Calling the hotel home, Francis indicated that he wants to live in a community with ordinary folk, not the gilded cage of the Apostolic Palace.
In one concession, Francis did move in recent days from the hotel's cramped Room 207, where he had stayed as cardinal, into Room 201, the larger papal suite, which has a study and sitting room to receive guests.
The furnishings are a step up from the simple fare of the rest of the hotel: dark wood armoires and a bed with a matching headboard carved with an image of Christ's face.
The decision not to take up residence in the Apostolic Palace might also signal a desire to keep his distance from the dysfunctional Vatican government Francis has inherited.
In his March 20 audience with religious leaders, Francis sent an important signal about his view of the papacy and its relationship with other Christians.
"To have a simpler view, less grandiose sense of the trappings of the papacy might be saying, 'I want to be able to relate to you at a different level,'" said Anton Vrame of the Greek Orthodox archdiocese in the U.S.
In that same vein, Francis announced this week that he wasn't moving into the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace and would stay instead in the Vatican's Santa Marta residence, the antiseptically clean, institutional-style hotel where he and the 114 cardinals who elected him pope were sequestered during the conclave.
Calling the hotel home, Francis indicated that he wants to live in a community with ordinary folk, not the gilded cage of the Apostolic Palace.
In one concession, Francis did move in recent days from the hotel's cramped Room 207, where he had stayed as cardinal, into Room 201, the larger papal suite, which has a study and sitting room to receive guests.
The furnishings are a step up from the simple fare of the rest of the hotel: dark wood armoires and a bed with a matching headboard carved with an image of Christ's face.
The decision not to take up residence in the Apostolic Palace might also signal a desire to keep his distance from the dysfunctional Vatican government Francis has inherited.
In his March 20 audience with religious leaders, Francis sent an important signal about his view of the papacy and its relationship with other Christians.
"To have a simpler view, less grandiose sense of the trappings of the papacy might be saying, 'I want to be able to relate to you at a different level,'" said Anton Vrame of the Greek Orthodox archdiocese in the U.S.
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