Popes meet ahead of Pope Francis’s visit to Brazil.

Before Pope Francis’s visit to Brazil, he paid a visit to his predecessor Pope Emeritus Benedict.  Who resigned on February 28, saying he no longer had the strength to run the 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church. He was the first pontiff in 600 years to step down instead of reigning for life.

Francis spent more than 30 minutes with Benedict, who is living in a former convent on the Vatican grounds, and gave him a program of the trip in case he wanted to watch events on television. With this call Benedict had to preside at World Youth Day, a gathering of young Catholics from around the globe, which takes place in Rio de Janeiro July 22-28.

It is the pontiff's first trip outside Italy since he was elected on March 13, and takes the Argentine pontiff to the continent of his birth.

Pope Francis prepares for his visit to Brazil 

Popes’ first overseas trip as pontiff will be to Brazil, pope francis has earned praise for his evident love for people, jovial manner, simple lifestyle, commitment to the oppressed and his determination to put a personal stamp on the papacy. The Argentine plans to ride in an open version in order to get closer to the masses on his home continent instead of using his mobile. As he moved through the crows, Francis did not hesitate cracking jokes, shaking hands and kissing babies, and delivered unscripted remarks, to the occasional dismay of staffers scrambling to keep up.

The Vatican toughest evaluation lies ahead as he seeks to set the Roman Catholic Church on a new path and to shake up the scandal-plagued, faction-ridden Vatican. Building up a reservoir of public support and improving the church's image outside Vatican City should serve him well in that mission.

Since his election here in March to replace Benedict XVI, Francis' decisions to forgo many of the trappings of office, such as frequent use of the papal limo, and to speak up for the marginalized, including immigrants and Muslims, are genuine expressions of his personality and beliefs, analysts say.

Though Francis, who is 76, says he prefers the simplicity of his present lodgings, the decision has enabled him to exercise greater control over his agenda. Powerful aides at times have restricted access to his predecessors, sometimes for their own ends.

"No one decides how he allots his time, who sees him. He picks up the phone and calls up people," Speciale said. (There are reports that the pontiff still says". It is Jorge," when he rings someone.)

Many of Pope Francis's toughest decisions lie ahead, as he seeks to set the church on a new path and to shake up the scandal-plagued and faction-ridden Vatican.

Another papal commission has been assigned to review the bank for Francis, who has declared a wish to see a "poor church for the poor," and who is reported to have said that St. Peter "did not have a bank account."

Any grumbling over the new leadership has been relatively quiet so far. Some are waiting for Francis to address the church's sexual abuse scandals; others complain that his common touch removes the aura of sacredness that should enshroud the mystery of papacy.

And some senior clerics are struggling to adapt to the new tone of austerity and simplicity. Tornielli a Vatican insider said "With bishops and cardinals, you can't just push a button to synchronize them with this new frequency”.