History was made on Wednesday, 13 March 2013 when Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauram announced, “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habenus Papam.” (I announce to you a great joy. We have a Pope). Francis I become the 266th pontiff in the Church’s history. He is the first Jesuit to become Pope; this is powerful considering the clashes the Jesuits have had historically within the Church, including Popes themselves.
Francis 1st has been entrusted by a Church in crisis. The terrible crisis caused by priestly child abuse and leaks, now come to be known as “Vatileaks”, of secret papal documents that uncovered corruption and rivalry inside the Curia, or Church government.
I have no doubt that our Pope, the first non-European Pope since the Syrian Gregory III in 731, the first from the southern hemisphere, and the third non-Italian Pope in a row, will provide a different outlook into the Church. This is evident from the very beginning when he first appeared on the balcony in public after being elected; he started off with a joke. He told the thousands of soaking Catholics huddled in the Vatican City’s St Peter’s Square that the cardinals had gathered to “give Rome a bishop” but said that they had “gone to the ends of the earth to get one.”
The world media have already noticed our Pope’s humility, truly emulating the saint of simplicity and poverty that he took on as name; Francis of Assisi. Although a Cardinal, entitled to reside in an official residence; Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio instead opted for a modest Buenos Aires apartment. He refused to be driven around in the official limousine and opted for public transport instead.
His style is the antithesis of Vatican splendour. But going against the Church’s protocol is not the only thing that Francis I has gone against; the Pope, when he was Cardinal, has also modernised the Church in Argentina; traditionally known for being of the most conservative in Latin America.
There is no doubt, Pope Francis I is the right man to lead our Church at this critical time: Europe confronts a crisis of faith. Dealing head-on with the curia and abuse by the clergy will restore faith to Europeans who have left Mother Church in disgust. This may well encourage them to return to the Church.
Already in the short time as Pope, Francis I has already made history when Bartholomew I, patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church attended a papal investiture; the first to ever have done this ever. Amazingly, Bartholomew is quoted saying that the unity of the two great Christian Churches, that of the Catholic and Orthodox, is “the first and foremost of our concerns”. This, in my opinion is earth-shattering stuff!
The Pope is a modern Pope, where he tweeted on his personal twitter page (and not the official @Pontifex), after being elected as leader of the Church, “perhaps a little humility in saying I am simply representative of God on earth, just as God is a representative of me in Heaven.” It is a modern Pope that we need. One that is not afraid to speak out when it is necessary. He has even critized the Argentine government when he saw human rights violations being perpetrated and inequalities in society.
He recognised that the Church is in trouble. As Cardinal he said; “if I had to choose between a wounded Church that goes out on to the streets and a sick, withdrawn Church, I would definitely choose the first one.” He is supportive of unmarried mothers and the use of condoms to prevent diseases.
Indeed, this forward thinking Pope, I believe, is the man that will deal with those issues and others such as the ordination of married men. Only time will tell.
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