Viva il Papa! I'm relieved and happy to have a new Holy Father and especially to have one named for one of my favorite saints, St. Francis of Assisi, although because Pope Francis is a Jesuit I suppose it could be St. Francis Xavier.
I was at work in the Pastoral Center when the white smoke went up and everyone gathered in the lobby to watch the TV there. We were all very nervous and excited that it could be Cardinal Seán, whose name had been bandied about so often recently.
That picture doesn't do it justice as the crowd was twice the size by the announcement. There was relief at hearing that Cardinal Seán was coming home, and joy at the announcement, but also curiosity, wondering who this new pope is. I look forward to getting to know him.
Image Credit
- PopeFrancisFBCover: George Martell/Pilot Media Group | CC BY NC 2.0
- 2013-03-13 14.26.50: Own photo
I was driving home from work, listening to Rush Limbaugh, as I figured that he would be the show most likely to announce the colour of the smoke. I was about 15 miles from home when he stated that it was white smoke. Luckily I am acquainted with all of the law enforcement in the area, as I was in a hurry to get home. I watched the announcement, and I had to check my list to make sure there weren’t two Bergoglio’s. LOL I had a dossier on him from 2005 that I hadn’t bothered to update, as I did not consider him to be papabile due to his age in this conclave. Big mistake on my part.
He is, apparently, not the liturgical scholar that Benedict XVI was/is, but I have a feeling that this Jesuit will surprise many, many Catholics… and not necessarily in ways they will like. He stood his ground in the 70s when his entire order was embracing liberation theology… and it cost him dearly. But he never relented. This man has a spine of reinforced duralinium. As he has no strong ties to the Curia, I expect him to be the man to get their respective curial houses in order. He was steadfast in Buenos Aires in fighting against abortion, homosexual unions and state sponsored contraception. He has likewise been most vocal regarding his stance against female ordination and married clergy. He seems to infuriate the guys on the far right and the far left. So far, so good.
Despite the rad-trad caterwauling about liturgy and Latin (I do consider myself a traditionalist, preferring the TLM), and the heterodox wailing about abortion and female ordination, I feel that Francis will be an excellent pope. Based on just my gut instinct, and a little bit of reading about his past and some of his translated writings. I, too, Dom, am looking forward to getting to know this man, this Jesuit, our Holy Father, Pope Francis.