Negrenses hail Pope Francis
for simplicity, call for prayers
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Government and Roman Catholic leaders in Negros Occidental, along with the rest of world, yesterday welcomed the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new pope, and called on the faithful to pray for his success.

“Pope Francis is a gift from heaven…he is the choice of the Holy Spirit,” Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra said, after presiding over the ordination of Jose Paulo Lanuza and Michael Andres Pajares as priests at rites at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City yesterday morning.

Navarra’s announcement of the name of the new pope to the congregation at the Cathedral was met with thunderous applause.

Pontiff shuns limo,
pays hotel himself

VATICAN CITY – Newly-elected Pope Francis shunned the special chauffeur-driven "Vatican One" limousine after being picked as pontiff, the Vatican said yesterday.

“Instead of the formal Vatican One car, he preferred to take the minibus with the other cardinals," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.

The new pope then dined with the cardinals in a Vatican residence where he thanked them for electing him but then quipped: "God forgive you for what you've done!"

Don Salvador Benedicto Mayor Marxlen de la Cruz yesterday said he is set to ask the Commission on Elections to disqualify lawyer Jose Max Ortiz from running against him in the May 13 polls in the light of a recent court decision.

Judge Francisco Pando, of the Municipal Court in Cities Branch 4 in Bacolod City, in a decision dated March 8, ruled that Ortiz is not a resident of Barangay Kumaliskis, Don Salvador Benedicto, in Negros Occidental, and therefore, disqualified to vote in the town in the May polls.

The judge denied the petition of Ortiz to be included as voter of DSB.