Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images

Pope Francis looks on after his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican on May 1, 2013. Pope Francis urged political leaders to make every effort to create jobs and said unemployment was caused by economic thinking "outside the bounds of social justice.".

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the conditions of workers who died in the Bangladesh factory collapse as "slave labor," saying unjust salaries and the unbridled quest for profits were "against God."

His words were his toughest yet on workers' rights since his election on March 13, and another indication that the former archbishop of Buenos Aires was intent on making social justice a major plank of his pontificate.

"Living on 38 euros ($50) a month - that was the pay of these people who died. That is called slave labor," Francis said in a private impromptu sermon at his personal morning Mass in his residence, Vatican Radio reported.

The death toll from the collapse last week of the illegally built Rana Plaza in Dhaka's commercial suburb of Savar rose to 411 on Wednesday and about 40 unidentified victims were buried.

The pope, speaking on May Day, the international labor day, said: "Not paying a just wage, not giving work, only because one is looking at the bottom line, at the budget of the company, seeking only profit - that is against God".

Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, said there were many people in the world living in conditions of slave labor.

"Today in the world there is this slavery that is perpetrated with the most beautiful thing that God has given man: the capacity to create, to work, to make his own dignity," he said.

"How many brothers and sisters in the world are in this situation because of these economic, social and political policies?"

Khurshed Rinku / Khurshed Rinku / Reuters

A view of rescue workers attempting to find survivors from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building in Savar, around 19 miles outside Dhaka April 30.

In his native Argentina, Francis was often on the side of the poor, the downtrodden and the unemployed, clashing with the government on economic policy and defending the dignity of the weakest members of society.

"Dignity is not bestowed by power, by money, by culture — no! Dignity is bestowed by work. Social, political and economic systems have made a choice that signifies exploiting the individual," he said.

Duty-free access offered by Western countries and low wages have helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19 billion a year industry, with 60 percent of clothes going to Europe, where the tragedy has raised questions about the human cost of cheap fashion.

Later, at his public general audience in St. Peter's Square, the pope returned to the subject of workers' rights but did not mention the Bangladesh tragedy.

"Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice," he said before tens of thousands of people.

In that address, he called on governments to tackle high unemployment and eliminate slave labor associated with human trafficking.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates almost 21 million people worldwide are victims of slavery or forced labor. Almost half are thought to be trafficked, either across borders or within their own countries.

In Italy and elsewhere in Western Europe, many young women from Africa and Eastern Europe are victims of human trafficking and forced to work as prostitutes in major cities.

Claudio Peri / Pool via EPA

Pope Francis (L) seen during his first mass in St Paul's Outside the Walls, Rome, Italy, 14 April 2013.

ROME — Pope Francis on Sunday said clergy and Christians must not betray the word of God with their actions or they undermine the credibility of the Catholic Church.

Francis, elected a month ago, inherited a Church struggling to restore credibility after a series of scandals, including the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The pope spoke at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, where he celebrated Mass. He also greeted pilgrims and local Church members earlier in St. Peter's square.

"Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the Church's credibility," the pontiff said in his homily.

"Those who listen to us and observe us must be able to see in our actions what they hear from our lips, and so give glory to God!"

In his first major decision on Saturday, Francis set up an advisory board of cardinals to help him govern the Church and reform its troubled central administration, which was riddled by infighting and alleged corruption under Pope Benedict.

Benedict left a secret report for Francis on the problems in the administration, known as the Curia, which came to light when sensitive documents were stolen from the pope's desk and leaked by his butler in what became known as the "Vatileaks" scandal.

Since his election as the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years, Francis has been laying out a clear moral path for the 1.2-billion-member Church. He has favored humility and simplicity over pomp and grandeur.

Francis has preferred to live in simple quarters in the Vatican instead of moving into the regal papal apartments, and he has said he wants "a poor Church, and for the poor".

In the Sunday afternoon service at St. Paul's, Francis said that each Christian can be a saint, which he defined as "middle class holiness."

"There are the saints of every day, the 'hidden' saints, a sort of 'middle class of holiness'... to which we can all belong."

The pope celebrated Mass together with the Benedictine monks to whom the basilica and the adjoining monastery are entrusted. St. Paul's is one of Rome's four major basilicas and the second largest after St. Peter's. 

Slideshow: Riding in style: The evolution of the popemobile

Alessandro Di Meo / EPA

Images of the automobiles that have transported popes over the years.

Launch slideshow

Comes outfitted in protective bullet-proof glass. Draws a crowd wherever it goes. A driver is included; gold trim is optional.

Popemobiles also include such amenities as a handrail to let the pope easily stand and wave while in motion, a built-in stereo and arctic-cool air conditioning.

Eight popes have had their own set of holy wheels since Pope Pius XI got a stretch 460 Nurburg edition Mercedes-Benz in 1930, but the eighth, Pope Francis -- known for taking the bus to work before he was named pope -- may not want all the frills and custom built-ins that popemobiles offer. 

By retiring, Benedict XVI has passed along a white armored Mercedes SUV, which has a white leather interior with gold trim and a white leather turret that can be raised by hydraulic lift high enough for crowds to see the pope, if he wants to sit. (For longer trips around Italy, Benedict enjoyed his own helicopter.) Bullet-proof Plexiglas that's strong enough to withstand explosions surrounds the turret on three sides. There's an emergency oxygen supply built in, according to The Telegraph. 

"The pope must feel comfortable. People must be able to see him. People have traveled very far; they want to be able to get a good look at him," said Christoph Horn, Director of Global Communications of Mercedes-Benz, from Stuttgart, Germany. "This is about creating a comfortable and safe environment for the pope to travel in and be seen in.”

The pre-mobile
Popes didn't have to wait for the invention of automobiles to be mobile. For centuries, popes traveled by throne when going out on local outings. The popes were carried by 12 bearers (representing the 12 disciples of the church) as they moved through crowds, Ronald Rychlak, a University of Mississippi law school professor who has written numerous books on religion, said.

Daimler

The first car used by a pope.

All that changed when Pope Pius XI got his Benz. The limousine was a gift from the car company, which would provide vehicles for many popes after that.

"Usually more than one vehicle was provided, especially for the popes in the 1930s," Horn said. "They were traveling a lot, so many popemobiles were built for them."

Back then, popes traveled in limousines with open tops, he said. Over the years, more than 12 different models of cars and trucks would be provided for popes. Pope John XXIII ushered in a new era of pope cars in 1960 with a Mercedes 300D Landaulet, which had a throne that rose high in the back, The New York Times reported. His successor switched to a 1964 Lincoln model before he went back to the preferred Mercedes brand a year later.

But don't call it 'popemobile'
When popes travel abroad for state visits, it's not always possible for the vehicles they use at home to make the journey with them. Instead, customized cars are prepared ahead of the visit, submitted for Vatican approval from the country he will visit.

"The primary level of security is assigned to the host nation," Rychlak said. "If they want to have something like a popemobile for a major parade, let's say they're doing Mass at Yankee stadium or something like that, they would have to make arrangements to ship something over, or that's the kind of situation where there may be a gift made to the pope" by a major car company.

That was how the car that officially became known for the first time as the "popemobile" came into existence: Pope John Paul II had visited Ireland in 1979, and a boxy yellow Ford Transit van awaited him as his chariot. Last November, The Telegraph reported an Irish businessman had acquired the van from the Dublin Wax Museum, where it had been since the papal visit, and was transforming it into a party bus.

Many other popemobiles have stayed in the countries they were used in. In 2008, Newsweek got a peek at the popemobile Benedict used for his U.S. tour, describing it as "by far the fanciest and sleekest papal car ever built ... The papal handlers can shift their passenger from zero to 60 in less than eight seconds, but the drivers probably won't exceed 10 mph along the parade routes."

In 2002, John Paul II asked the media to stop using the term "popemobile," insisting it sounded "undignified."

A clear need for better security
John Paul II survived an assassination attempt in 1981 while in St. Peter's Square. A Turkish man was later convicted of firing the shots, which punctured the pope's car and struck him four times. John Paul II survived, but it was clear his wide-open truck wouldn't suffice to protect him. From then on, bulletproof glass has encased popemobiles, although popes have occasionally ridden around without covering for brief periods.

Arturo Mari / AP

A 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.

Since adding bulletproof glass, popemobiles have added other necessary features, including ultra-powerful air conditioning to cool down the glass dome that popes sit in, reports The Telegraph.

Other protection measures include heavy-metal reinforcement on the bottom of the vehicle as well as the other sides, and the driver is always a trusted longtime Vatican employee. There's no partition between the pope and his driver; a microphone enables him to broadcast messages to crowds through speakers outside the popemobile.

The current weighs five tons and was just presented to Benedict last December by Mercedes-Benz.

"We work with the members of the Vatican and with the people in charge of the garages of the Vatican," Horn said. "These are all individual vehicles that are built to specifications."

The new pope's desire to get up close and personal with his faithful has presented challenges for his security detail.

"The pope's going to want to be up close hugging and touching and meeting people and that's going to be a tremendous concern for his security people," Rychlak said. "His security forces have taken him aside, or probably already have, and are going to say, 'Holy Father, you're putting us in a horrible situation if you don't go along with these things.'"

They're used to having to say that, though: Benedict didn't always like the feeling of a "shield between him and the people," Rychlak said. Most popemobiles are designed so the glass can be lowered, though.

This story was originally published on Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:36 AM EDT

AP

Pope Francis, left, and Pope emeritus Benedict XVI pray together in Castel Gandolfo Saturday, in this photo provided by the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano.

Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict prayed together before having lunch in a historic meeting Saturday.

The new pontiff flew to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo in the Alban Hills outside of Rome by helicopter Saturday. Pope Benedict XVI has been living there since he resigned Feb. 28, becoming the first pope to step down in 600 years.

Both men wore white papal outfits.

Father Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said that Benedict and Francis had embraced at the helipad, then went to a private chapel to pray.

Benedict, who looked frail and walked with a cane, told Francis to kneel in front of the altar, but Francis said, "let's kneel together" and they did so, Lombardi said.

"We're brothers," Francis reportedly told the former pope as the two prayed together on the same prie dieu.

They then had a private conversation for about 40 minutes in the library, before going to lunch.

Francis presented Benedict with a gift of an icon of the Virgin Mary.

“When I saw this picture of the Madonna of Humility, my thoughts turned immediately to you,” Francis told his predecessor, according to Eurovision News.

The Associated Press reported that crowds gathered near then villa in the hope of catching a glimpse of history.

The news agency speculated about what the two men would discuss:

The two popes might discuss the big issues facing the church: The rise of secularism in the world, the drop in priestly vocations in Europe, the competition that the Catholic Church faces in Latin America and Africa from evangelical Pentecostal movements.

They might also discuss pressing issues concerning Francis' new job: Benedict left a host of unfinished business on Francis' plate, including the outcome of a top-secret investigation into the leaks of papal documents last year.

Francis might want to sound Benedict out on his ideas for management changes in the Holy See administration, a priority given the complete dysfunctional government he has inherited.

They might also discuss the future of Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Benedict's trusted aide who has had the difficult task of escorting his old pope into retirement and then returning to the Vatican to serve his successor.

Gaenswein has appeared visibly upset and withdrawn at times as he has been by Francis' side. The Vatican has said Francis' primary secretary will be Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, who had been the No. 2 secretary under Benedict.

NBC News' Ian Johnston and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published on Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:56 AM EDT

ROME -- Italians have an expression for things that happen rarely, like running into an old school friend who lives far away. They’ll say they see the person “ogni morte di papa” or “every death of a pope.” 

With only four conclaves in the past 35 years there’s good reason for the expression, despite the fact that Benedict’s surprise resignation may force the phrase to change to “ogni cambio di papa”  or “every change of a pope.”

Though the events are few and far between, I’ve had the pleasure of being here the last three times the white smoke went up. And the election of Pope Francis feels reminiscent of the heady excitement surrounding the election of another outsider: Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II.

Zany charm of a crowd of strangers
The first time I saw the white smoke I was just 16 years old, the editor of my high school newspaper at an American school here in Rome.

It was October 16, 1978, and it was the second conclave in just a few months, because the newly elected John Paul I had died after only 33 days in office. 

St. Peter’s Square was not as well lit as it is today. Only the church’s façade and the Sistine Chapel roof chimney were illuminated. The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of almost 100,000 stood in a chilled darkness, sustained by an excited, Christmas-like anticipation of the announcement of a new pope. There’s something quite unusual, a little zany and inexplicably charming about standing in an enormous group of strangers, waiting for an arcane smoke signal to reveal a new leader.

The smoke finally appeared on that October night and there was a rush to interpret whether it was black or white. With a history of spotty results when it comes to ballot burning, there was room for doubt, but it ultimately turned a solid white and a thrill ran through the crowd. The anticipation built even more as we waited for the first appearance on the balcony, and the question “Who will it be?” crisscrossed the crowd in a dozen languages.

Slideshow: The election of Pope Francis

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Cardinals from around the world gathered in the Vatican to elect the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Launch slideshow

The Roman Catholic Church made history that night, electing the first foreign pope in more than four centuries. The red velvet draperies trembled and parted to bring forth a vibrant, youthful Polish cardinal. He immediately charmed the crowd in stumbling Italian, and then went on to radically transform the papacy with intercontinental travel, a constant television presence and a historic moral challenge to the Soviet Union’s harsh rule of Eastern European nations behind the Iron Curtain.

After high school and during college I worked for several of the American network news bureaus in Rome. Pope John Paul II was almost killed by a Turkish gunman in St. Peter’s Square in 1981, and I spent most of 1982 working for ABC News. In June of that year, I flew on my first “papal plane” when the pontiff visited Britain.

Satellite television and videotape had just come of age with John Paul II’s election, and the Pole’s long pontificate would rise, thrive and fall under the unblinking eye of the constant camera lens. For people who had known only one pope their whole lives, John Paul II would come to symbolize Catholicism: both stubborn and frail, often charming but also uncompromising.

Transitional, not transformational
The death of John Paul II in 2005 was mourned by millions. I returned to the Vatican for NBC News in 1996 after many years working in the United States and covered the last decade of his papacy.

Like most of my fellow Vatican watchers, I knew the Polish pope would be an impossible act to follow. Still, I hoped the cardinals would go for a bold choice over a safe one.  

Benedict was not that bold choice. But clearly the cardinals felt the church would benefit from a transitional figure, rather than a transformational one like John Paul II.

The white smoke came quickly that time, on the third vote after just a day and a half, and the excitement in the square was shared with cellphones in the age of the Internet. 

The election of 78-year-old Joseph Ratzinger, a full 20 years older than John Paul II at his election, would shift the image of the papacy to a staid, conservative and bookish one.

Many believe resigning was the most courageous act of Benedict’s entire papacy. It took a lot for someone who loves the trappings of Catholic conservatism as much as he does to break with 600 years of tradition, but Benedict did it, making way for one more puff of white smoke.

A swift surprise
This latest conclave also lasted a mere day and a half, a surprise in itself. Unlike the last one, where Ratzinger went in a clear favorite, this time there was an open field, no top contenders, and for the first time in history, not one but two Americans on the short list of possible popes.  

Courtesy Stephen Weeke/ NBC News

NBC News Producer Stephen Weeke walks with American Cardinal Timothy Dolan in Vatican City recently.

I now work out of San Francisco but came back to Rome to help TODAY with this conclave. After working all day at our live location overlooking the Vatican, I made it through the rain and crowds into St. Peter’s Square with minutes to spare before the smoke appeared.

The white smoke poured out of the chimney, with the force and color of something bellowing from a steam-engine locomotive -- there was no ambiguity this time. The crowd went crazy in the age of smartphones and social media, and basically crashed the local cellular network.

I waited for the announcement with other Americans, excited at the prospect of witnessing the arrival of an American pope. When the red drapes revealed a 76-year-old Argentine, I was initially a little disappointed. But the cardinal of Buenos Aires didn’t take long to change that feeling. 

When the new Pope Francis bent down to ask the crowd to pray for him, before he would bless them, I was moved. This man's humility seemed genuine, palpable and extremely public. Its effect on the crowd was immediate. 

Since then he has broken the mold in half a dozen ways. Refusing the papal limo and riding the bus back after his election with his fellow cardinals. Refusing the gold cross and keeping his iron one. Refusing the red slippers and keeping his clunky black walking shoes. Refusing a prepared speech and speaking off the cuff.

By naming himself after Saint Francis of Assisi, a beloved figure whose radical embrace of poverty reformed an ailing and corrupt church 800 years ago, the pope has already telegraphed that he is open to change.

It's high time the world had a pope with a common touch and a flair for the unscripted. Francis is already reminding a lot of us of the young John Paul II. I’m glad I was here to see his white smoke. 

Stephen Weeke was NBC News' Vatican producer from 1996 to 2005. He is now based in Northern California. 

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VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis said Saturday he wanted "a poor church for the poor" in his first remarks to the media since he was elected leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Wearing simple white robes and plain black shoes, he explained how he decided to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi: When he reached two-thirds of the vote in the conclave, a fellow cardinal embraced him and said, "Don't forget the poor."

"That's when I thought of Francis of Assisi," he said. "And that is how the name came to me: Francis of Assisi, the man of poverty, of peace."

He added: "This is what I want, a poor church for the poor."

His comments underscored previous indications of his preference for austerity -- he did not sit on the papal throne to receive the cardinals after being elected, he took a bus with the rest of the cardinals back to their hotel and he was pictured Friday paying the bill himself.

There were some 5,600 accredited journalists – including some children and family members – packed into the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, the UK's Sky News reported.

The 76-year-old pontiff praised reporters for their coverage of the historic transition of the papacy.

"The role of mass media has become essential in modern times, so thank you...you have worked hard," he said to applause.

Pope Francis, formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was set to meet Emeritus Pope Benedict at his retreat south of Rome next week, the Holy See said in a statement. It will be the first time in modern history that a newly elected pope has met his predecessor.

Benedict resigned from the papacy on Feb. 28, the first to do so in 600 years. Francis, an Argentine and the first non-European pope, was elected on Wednesday.

Pope Francis is also expected to meet Argentine President Christina Kirchner next week ahead of his Installation Mass on Tuesday, the Vatican said.

The two have a combative history over issues such as same-sex marriage, which Bergoglio described as "a plan to destroy God's plan." Kirchner, meanwhile, said his remarks were "reminiscent of the times of the Inquisition."

On Friday, the Vatican denied "anti-clerical" accusations that Pope Francis had failed to protect priests during the so-called "dirty war" waged by Argentine dictators more than 30 years ago.

"We have every reason to affirm that these accusations are not reliable and there is no reason for them today to cast a shadow over the new pope," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said at a briefing.

A second spokesman, Father Tom Rosica said the accusations by an Argentine journalist amounted to a political smear campaign against the new pope.

"They reveal left-wing elements, anti-clerical elements that are used to attack the Church," Rosica said. "They must be firmly and clearly denied."

Bergoglio was not a cardinal, or even a bishop, during the time in question but supervisor of Jesuit priests in Argentina.

NBC News' Alastair Jamieson and Ian Johnston, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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