| Pope Francis |
The white smoke billowing out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaled a changing of the guard for the Catholic Church. Acknowledging the almost half billion
Catholics who live in Latin America, the council of Cardinals finally recognized the "new world" by electing Archbishop of Buenos Aires, CardinalJorge Mario Bergoglio, as the next Pope.
The 76 year old Argentinian, will be the first non European Pope to
be elected in over 1,000 years. He will be known as Pope Francis from now on,
indicating he plans to model his life in the same prayerful and humble role as
St. Francis of Assissi.
If it’s any indication of his future humility, Cardinal
Bergoglio once went to a hospital where sick aids patients lay. He washed and kissed their feet as he
said prayers, blessing and expressing his love for them.....He is also well known for his compassion and outspokenness
for the poor and downtrodden
Another first is that he is from the Jesuit order, the
Church has never had a Jesuit as Pope before.
Other “new world” Cardinals were mentioned as possible
candidates for Pope as well, including Irish American Cardinals: New York's Timothy Dolan, and Boston's Sean O'Malley.
Cardinal Dolan, particularly would have been well suited to
head the Church as he has a stellar reputation for accomplishing tasks, can maneuver through the world of secular politics and is a
master at communicating with the media…Strengths necessary as the Church is
besieged by a bevy of problems, including outside secular forces and competition
from other sects of Christianity….But many other problems the Church faces, are
of their own making.
Rumors swirled around the idea of having an American Pope. Some people think too much power is already
vested in America
and to have an American Pope would be too much. Others said they would be
suspicious that an American Pope would be working for the CIA.
Although Latin America accounts
for almost half of the population of Catholics in the world, it only has 22
Cardinals out of the approximately 125 elector Cardinals worldwide. So this new
Pope signals the recognition that the Churches future growth, for now, lies in
the developing parts of the world.
In spite of its problems the Catholic Church is the single largest religion in the world with 1.2 billion members. It is the wellspring of world charity in places where little of that exists and has brought education to millions who would have otherwise been denied a chance to be educated. The Church was also instrumental, under the helm of Pope John Paul, in bringing down the Soviet Unions Iron Curtain that had enslaved millions around the world.
