[Episcopal News Service] It was a beautiful day in Rome. A million people, from heads of states to beggars, basked in the sunlight, as military and television helicopters flew in circles above us.

A hundred national flags flapped above the great crowd, along with big banners in Polish and Spanish. The Anglican delegation, headed by Archbishop of York John Sentamu, was seated close to the huge altar, behind the Catholikos of the Armenian Church, Karekin I, and next to the Orthodox delegation. They were sitting behind the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, the head of 350 million Orthodox believers. No one had calculated the last time a patriarch attended the inauguration of a papacy, but it must be at least one thousand years.

That was the first of several extraordinary gestures. Pope Francis showed up early in the Popemobile, which was without bulletproof glass. Applause and shouts followed his progress around St. Peter’s Square. Then he cut off the opening anthem, “Tu es Petrus” — an anthem of papal power — not because he seemed in a hurry but to make a point. First, he’s the pope, and he can do what he wants. Second, given the tenor of the rest of the Mass, Francis wanted to start on a more humble note.

His vestments and miter were simple, the hundred or so cardinals’ magnificent chasubles and miters outshining the pontiff’s. In the homily he referred to himself as “The Bishop of Rome” — the title given in the Thirty-Nine Articles to the popes. Despite having only one lung, his sermon was full-voiced, punctuated by a few blows to the lectern. The Methodists sitting with us said he could be a Methodist! Many of the delegations were visibly moved.

This contrasted with the softness of his tone as he celebrated the Mass. Francis sounded genuinely choked up at times.

Going back to my hotel, I asked the taxi driver what he thought of the new pope. In his Roman accent, he said, “he is a man of the people, simple and humble.” He likes what he sees so far.

One Roman Catholic priest, shepherding some of the delegates, looked out at the Popemobile and Pope Francis reaching out, touching people, and said, “We don’t know what to expect anymore.” The Anglicans agreed among ourselves that that is a good thing.

— Bishop Pierre Whalon of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe was part of the official Anglican Communion delegation attending the pope’s installation on March 19.