Summary Vast crowd in Buenos Aires erupted with joy as new Argentine pontiff received symbol of papal power.
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - After waiting all night in a festive atmosphere, a vast crowd in Buenos Aires erupted with joy Tuesday as the new Argentine pontiff received the symbols of papal power.
They got an unexpected treat, too.
Before his inauguration mass in the Vatican, Pope Francis delivered a special message in Spanish to the crowd back home here in Buenos Aires, appealing for them to shun envy, be kind, love God and -- using an Argentine colloquialism to boot -- not speak ill of people behind their backs.
And he asked the multitude of tens of thousands in the Plaza de Mayo and outside the city s cathedral, not to forget him, far away in Vatican City.
"Please do not forget this bishop, who is far but loves you very much. Pray for me," Pope Francis told the crowd in a telephone message broadcast on giant TV screens.
Later, the crowd cheered and clapped when the pope took delivery of the formal symbols of his office: the papal ring and the pallium -- a lambswool strip of cloth that symbolises the pope s role as a shepherd.
The new pope -- until days ago Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires -- regularly delivered mass at the cathedral on a corner of the Plaza de Mayo. The president s office, the Casa Rosada, is also located on the plaza.
People waved the baby blue and white Argentine flags.
Overnight, Catholic high school students chanted slogans praising Francis, while seminarians and nuns waved white and yellow Vatican flags and signs supporting the new pope.
The leader of the world s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics was formally inaugurated at a huge open air mass in St Peter s Square.
At the vigil in Buenos Aires there were group prayers and music, including the rock band Father Cesar and the Sinners, led by a priest named Cesar Scicchitano. The country s most popular singer, Axel, will also perform, responding to an invitation from religious authorities.
"This pope has awakened deep emotions within me, not only because he s from Argentina, but because of his warmth as a person," said Celia Farias, 33.
"As a Catholic, it has renewed my faith," she told AFP.
For Andrea Cosentino, a 40 year-old homemaker, Francis s papacy will result in the church "getting close to the common people."
Both women arrived at the Plaza de Mayo armed with folding chairs, signs, jackets for the cold weather, an umbrella "in case it rains" -- and gourds with yerba mate, a traditional Argentine tea that the pope enjoys.
Before traveling to the Vatican for the inauguration ceremony, Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri ordered the public school system closed for the day.
Some 75 percent of Argentina s 40 million people say they are Catholic, according to church officials.
In no time at all the pope has achieved the status of a rock star here.
And the ruling Peronist party and the opposition are tripping over each other to be seen as closer to him than the other, said.
"They all seem to be fighting, as if to say I saw him first, I see him more often, " said sociologist Graciela Rmer.
Local officials set up several Red Cross stations to provide medical assistance overnight, while army support units were in place to provide hot beverages and aid.
When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires the new pope had testy relations with President Cristina Kirchner, particularly over legislation on gay marriage, abortion and transsexual identity.
Kirchner s late husband Nestor had called him "the true head of the opposition" because of his behind-the-scenes meetings with political leaders.
On Monday Kirchner met with Francis at the Vatican and asked him to mediate in the Falkland Islands dispute with Britain. Kirchner noted that late pope John Paul II had mediated in a similar dispute between Argentina and Chile -- when the two countries nearly went to war over the islands of the Beagle channel in 1978.
A poll released in Argentina on Monday showed 54.2 percent of respondents in Buenos Aires were proud of the moderate conservative pope but do not support his teaching against the use of condoms.
