Now after following three different popes on their journeys around the world as a member of the Vatican's travelling press corps, and witnessing the changes in Catholic mentality inspired by Pope Francis, I see a very different Vatican. The crowds of pilgrims and tourists are back here, for this is currently a Jubilee year, celebrated by the Catholic Church once every 25 years. Michelangelo's awesome frescoes of the Sistine Chapel are still stunning first-time visitors, but the papal crown has long been put aside and the Pope moves among adoring crowds on a popemobile, or a small family car, not a sedan chair. Dogma is out, empathy is in, and Francis's question about an errant bishop: "Who am I to judge?", still tingles in my mind. He once used an unexpectedly shocking simile to denounce what he termed "hypocritical clericalism". "An example I often use to illustrate the reality of vanity is this," he said. "Look at the peacock; it's beautiful if you look at it from the front. But if you look at it from behind, you discover the truth… Whoever gives in to such self-absorbed vanity has huge misery hiding inside them." One of the cardinals touted as a possible successor to Pope Francis is a modest Italian priest I used to meet in the Rome streets of Trastevere, where he was once of the founder members of a small Catholic community devoted equally to helping poor people and dabbling in high diplomacy on an international level. Yet after domination by Italians and cardinals of other European nations for generations, and the first ever pope from Latin America, the Vatican leadership is now genuinely open to other continents. There is a very really possibility of the next pope coming from Asia or Africa. Much will depend upon the personal contacts that develop among the cardinals themselves, both electors and those over the age of 80 who have lost the right to vote, arriving in Rome from around the world during the coming days. Many of them come from countries that have never before had a ranking church leader. The daily confidential pow wow that precedes the actual conclave will enable many of them to meet for the first time and decide to what extent they want to restore the past or look to the future.