Pope Francis’s Welcome New Tone

Since his papacy began in March, Pope Francis has shown himself to be a man of small but substantial gestures.

He exudes a pastoral charm -- whether cleaning the feet of prisoners, hugging a disabled child after Easter Mass or picking up the phone to comfort the distraught -- that didn’t always come naturally to his predecessors. He dresses modestly, lives austerely, speaks constantly of the poor and drives a 1984 Renault. He has reached out to atheists, gays and divorcees.