Pope signals more open papacy for troubled Church

Pope Francis was to meet the world's press on Saturday at the dawn of an already tradition-breaking leadership for a troubled Catholic Church, after the Vatican rejected claims he did nothing to save lives during Argentina's "Dirty War".

The special audience at 1000 GMT was being billed by the Vatican as part of the greater openness that has characterised the first days in office of the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first pope from Latin America.

The 76-year-old pontiff has displayed an informal style that contrasts sharply with that of his more academic predecessor Benedict XVI.

Under the simple slogan of "walk, build, confess" and speaking in a folksy Italian, he has urged Catholic leaders to shun worldly glories and lead a spiritual renewal in the Church that will reach "the ends of the earth".

The son of an Italian emigrant railway worker, he has warned them that without action the Church could end up becoming a "castle of sand" and just a charity with no spiritual foundation. The Catholic Church has been rocked in recent years by multiple scandals including thousands of cases of abuse of children by paedophile priests, stretching back decades, and intrigue in the Vatican bureaucracy.

Francis fans have already begun snapping up rosary beads and postcards adorned with his face at souvenir shops in the Vatican and New York's Bice restaurant has created a new dish -- barbecued steak pasta -- in homage to the pope's Argentinian and Italian roots.