Media Wooed By Pope

Pope Francis jokes with journalists from around the world at his first media audience after being elected to lead the Roman Catholic Church.

VATICAN (MARCH 16, 2013) (REUTERS) -  Pope Francis appeared to have impressed the world media on Saturday (March 16) as he laughed and joked with several thousand journalists in his first audience with them at the Vatican.

The pontiff gave a short speech to the gathered journalists in which he said he wanted the church to serve the poor.Towards the end of the audience a few journalists were selected to meet the pope personally on stage where he took a few moments with each of them, holding their hands and even embracing some of them.

"Yes I met the Pope and it was emotional and very moving because I didn't expect this decision. So I told him that he's very welcome here in Rome and from today and onwards we'll be working together, and he said "ok let's work together" and that's how it went. He is very latino in his manner, and you can tell that he is a man with a very strong human understanding with the people. I think he'll be a very successful Pope," said Pinot Mella, a cameraman who was chosen to meet the pontiff.

There were moments of cheering from the crowd, with one of the few negative comments being that Pope Francis, who seemed quite at ease, did not address the media in English.

"I think he was a much more animated Pope Francis this time around compared to Wednesday night where I think he was a little terrified when he came out on the balcony. This time he was making jokes, he was laughing and he also told the story of why he told the Saint's name Francis. The only thing I was a little surprised about was that he didn't speak English. He spoke in Italian, he spoke in of course Spanish for his Latin American groups, but he didn't speak English which we were hoping for," said American journalist Dan Mannarino.

Pope Francis, who is named after the patron saint of animals, also took a moment to greet one of the journalists' guidedogs, which brought about a round of applause from the audience.

Father Robert Sirico, from the faith-based thinktank, the Acton Institute told Reuters TV he thought the world media would enjoy working with the newly-elected South American pontiff.

"From a professional point of view for the media, this is a man full of human interest stories. You're going to find lots of little soundbites and lots of little interactions with people that are spontaneous and as I say very human. I was surprised he didn't play with the dog more. I thought for a pope named Francis, he would have really got into the dog but I think the media are going to enjoy their encounters with him, particularly his spontaneity and of course a journalist is always looking for a soundbite, as it were," Sirico said.

Since his shock election on Wednesday (March 13), the pope has made clear that he would be introducing a different style to the papacy following the resignation of Pope Benedict last month.

On the night he was elected he shunned the papal limousine and traveled on a bus with other cardinals who had elected him.

The next day he returned to the Church-run hotel where he had been staying before the conclave and insisted on paying the bill.

In other parts of his Italian address, much of it unscripted, he said that Catholics should remember that Jesus is the centre of the Church and not the pope.

Pope Francis is taking the helm of the 1.2 billion-member Church at a time of crisis over the worldwide sexual abuse scandal as well as scandals involving alleged corruption in the Vatican bureaucracy.