Celebrating his first Easter as pontiff, Francis stuck to the humble style he has embraced since assuming the office, wearing simple vestments and riding through the crowd in an open jeep, waving and kissing babies handed up to him.

WSJ: Pope Makes Easter Plea for Peace

After eyeing our open-topped jeep, he made a nervous split-second decision to pounce, scattering the prey below, and vanished into the thick camouflage-scrub of the riverbank.

BBC: On the hunt with Hemingway

On his way to Tuesday's Mass, Pope Francis rode in an open, white jeep, instead of the bulletproof pope-mobile often used by his predecessors, stopping to greet well wishers and getting out of the car to bless a disabled person.

WSJ: Pope Francis Celebrates Inaugural Mass

But he doesn't stand on formality: He jumps from the jeep to open the gates on his driveway and carries a thermos of coffee to the office.

CNN: INSIDE STORY: PHILIPPINES

But while many ornately dressed pontiffs in centuries past arrived in a fancy horse-drawn carriage, Francis rolled into a side entrance of the basilica complex in an open-topped white jeep.

NPR: Francis Honors John Paul II Before Installation