13/03/2014 14:30
Pope Francis marks first year in office
Pope Francis is celebrating his first year in office, the BBC reports.
The Argentinean-born pontiff is currently on a week-long spiritual retreat with cardinals and bishops in the Alban Hills near Rome.
Italian opinion polls give Pope Francis the highest popularity rating of any recent pontiff.
However, the BBC's David Willey in Rome says that Francis's papacy so far has shown a change of style rather than of substance.
Pope Francis is the first Latin American - and the first Jesuit - to lead the Roman Catholic Church.
Since taking office, pilgrims have been arriving in Rome in unprecedented numbers.
He is also riding high on social media, with 11 million following him in nine languages on Twitter.
The Pope himself has denounced any cult of personality.
He recently told Corriere della Sera: "Portraying the pope as a kind of superman, a type of star, it seems offensive."
Francis, 77, has appointed new advisers to help him run the Church and is planning major reforms of Vatican finances and of the scandal-hit Vatican bank.
Thursday's anniversary is not being marked in any official way, a move that Vatican-watchers say is in keeping with the Pope's tendency to eschew pomp and ceremony.