Pope Francis will reduce secularism, says Philippine Cardinal
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The Philippines' top Roman Catholic leader, Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle (above), said on Thursday, March 21, 2013, that Pope Francis' acts of reaching out to the masses would strengthen a church endangered by secularism. -- PHOTO: AFP
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippines' top Roman Catholic leader said on Thursday Pope Francis' acts of reaching out to the masses would strengthen a church endangered by secularism.
Three Philippine cardinals who witnessed the installation of the Argentine pontiff returned home on Thursday and heaped praise on the Pope's down-to-earth ways.
Francis, the first non-European pope since the Middle Ages, has won raves in his first days in the papacy by wading into crowds at St Peter's Square to meet common people and eschewing an armoured limousine for an ordinary car to pick up his bags at a downtown Vatican hotel.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle said such papal outreach would help the embattled church reconnect with people.
