Catholics gather in Raleigh to pray for new pope

Bishop Michael Burbidge told the lunchtime crowd to offer Pope Francis their prayers – prayers for help, guidance and wisdom. He said the 76-year-old pontiff wants to get back to the basics – a message he believes cuts across generations.

"He has reminded us, we are all members of God's holy family," Burbidge said. "That unity is best reflected in the respect and reverence we show for all human beings and our willingness to let go of all that divides us."

Daniela Burn and her Cardinal Gibbons High School classmates sat front and center at the service. For them, it was a lesson in religion, history and humanity. While decades separate her from the pope, Burn says there is much they have in common.

"He does a lot of community outreach, and he also helps a lot with poor," she said. "At Cardinal Gibbons, we do a lot of community outreach (and) go to soup kitchens. We do a lot of things we can relate to with the pope."

With a renewed sense of faith, parishioners lifted up their hearts, hands and prayers for the new pope.

"I think he’s going to bring us back to the basics in a way that it doesn’t need to be all that complicated, in order to find the peace, the joy. It’s all pretty basic," Burbidge said. "But, he’s going to use modern technology and tools to do it, because he always told his priests, 'Go to where the people are.'"