The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times carries a full-page picture of the Pope during the inauguration yesterday over the heading "The people's Pope".
The Malta Independent says the Pope urged the protection of nature and the weak during his inauguration Mass yesterday. It also says Labour has given a lifeline to Joe Debono Grech through the casual elections.
MaltaToday quotes the Pope urging world leaders to defend the weak.
In-Nazzjon highlights the Pope's comment that the real power is in giving service.
l-orizzont says there was joy and hope during the Pope's inauguration Mass yesterday.
The overseas press
The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers has said it was still committed to helping Cyprus after the country's parliament voted against a controversial bank levy that was a key condition of an EU bailout. Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup chair Jeroen Dijsselbloem told the Dutch national broadcaster NOS that while the outcome of the vote was “disappointing”, the offer remained on the table. Dijsselbloem gave no indication that the bailout terms could be altered but said Cyprus would have to decide on the next course of action, He added that €10 billion was the maximum amount that the country could realistically pay back. The Eurogroup insisted on a levy on accounts to raise an additional €5.8 billion deemed necessary to stabilise the country’s finances.
Cyprus Mail said the Bill, which had been amended to shield small deposit holders from the deposit tax, was rejected with 36 votes against, 19 abstentions and no votes in favour. One deputy was absent. Hundreds of protesters outside Parliament cheered and sang the national anthem when they heard the Bill had failed. Cyprus will now have to come up with an alternative plan to raise the money. Media reports on the island have suggested that bank restructuring and the securing of more Russian investments were among the possible options. Banks in Cyprus have been closed since Friday and are scheduled to stay closed until Thursday. Withdrawals at cash machines have been capped at 800 euros per day.
Most of the international media focus on Pope Francis’ inauguration of his papacy at a Mass in Rome. Avvenire says that 200,000 were in St Peter’s Square hearing the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics urging the protection of the environment, children, the elderly and those in need. In celebrating the Mass, Pope Francis was joined by 180 clergymen, including Adolfo Nicolas, the superior general of the Jesuit order. The Pope later greeted assembled dignitaries individually in St Peter's Basilica. Hundreds of people had gathered in the early hours of Tuesday in Plaza de Mayor, the main square in Buenos Aires, to watch the Mass broadcast on giant screens set up outside the cathedral.
The Patriarch of the Church of Antioch has warned Pope Francis that Christian minorities in the Middle East were under threat, especially in conflict-wracked Syria. Quoting a letter he said he had written to Francis, Patriarch Gregory III Laham told Adnkronos International that interfaith dialogue and coexistence between Islam and Christianity were also in jeopardy. The pontiff is an expert on the situation in the Middle East: as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Bergoglio was responsible for the Catholic community in the Middle East and was a point of contact for emigres from Lebanon, Syria and all the countries in that region.
Associated Press quotes the top US military commander in Europe saying several Nato countries were working on contingency plans for possible military action to end the two-year civil war in Syria as President Bashar Assad's regime accused US-backed Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons. The Obama administration rejected the Assad claim as a sign of desperation by a besieged government intent on drawing attention from its war atrocities – some 70,000 dead, more than one million refugees and 2.5 million people internally displaced. Both sides in the Syrian conflict have blamed the other for firing a chemical weapon at a village killing 16 people and wounding 86 others. But US official said there was no evidence that either side had used chemical weapons in an attack in northern Syria.
Le Parisien reports the French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac has resigned amid a ballooning scandal over suspected tax fraud and money laundering. Earlier, Paris prosecutors launched a judicial probe into a case of alleged laundering of money gained through tax fraud centring on him. However, the investigators haven’t turned up enough evidence to charge him by name. The minister has long been a vocal crusader against use of overseas tax havens.
Le Soir says India European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has warned India it would be flouting international law if it stopped Italy's ambassador from leaving the country amid a dispute over two Italian marines it wants to try for murder. The statement was the most forceful yet by the EU on the escalating row over the marines, who Italy has refused to return to India for trial over the murder of two fishermen they shot dead last February while guarding an oil tanker off southwest India. India's Supreme Court on Monday ordered Italy's ambassador to New Delhi , Daniele Mancini, not to leave the country until the next hearing of the case next month.
Ansa reports former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has appealed against a divorce settlement under which he pays his former wife Veronica Lario €36 million year. Lario, 56, filed for divorce after the 76-year-old billionaire media tycoon attended the 18th birthday party of an aspiring starlet and alleged friend in Naples in 2009, accusing him of consorting with minors. According to the 2010 sentence, Berlusconi will keep sole possession of his luxury villa outside Milan and his vast business empire. His fortune is estimated to be around €9 billion.