Under the watchful eyes of marble Angels and the Cherubs in Michelangelo's biblical frescoes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Pope Francis took two major steps in changing the stuffy, Eurocentric history of the Roman Catholic Church, and in creating an atmosphere that’s welcoming to families.

For the first time in his papacy, Pope Francis promoted bishops to the College of Cardinals, with a heavy emphasis on those from poor countries.  Of the 16, nine are from Asia, Africa or Latin America, including Haiti and Burkino Faso, reflecting his intention of creating a church that caters to the poor.  Only six are from Europe.  One is from Canada, but none are from the United States.

“The disproportionate representation of wealthy nations in the College of Cardinals is something that Francis is trying to rectify here, in keeping with his general concern for the poor,” said Candida R. Moss, a professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame.

The 120 members of the College of Cardinals votes on new Popes, and for centuries it has been made mostly of Europeans.  Appointing new Cardinals is the way Popes seek to extend their legacy.

Also on Sunday, Francis baptized 32 babies in the Sistine Chapel and told their mothers to have no qualms about breast-feeding them there. 

“If they are hungry, mothers, feed them, without thinking twice.  Because they are the most important people here,” he said.

The parents of one of the babies were not married in the church – usually, that’s a technicality that would cause the church to regard that marriage as illegitimate – but Pope Francis baptized the little darling anyway.  Over the past nine months he has repeatedly instructed priests that the Church must not make children of non-traditional couples feel like second-class faithful.