This morning, the white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel in Rome and the world was introduced to the new Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit from Argentina was elected by the College of Cardinals to the papacy following the resignation of now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI last month.
Pope Francis already exudes some of the qualities that made Pope John Paul II such a tender and noble spirit and leader. He is a humble and prayerful person with a deep commitment to justice and care of the poor. Apparently he has been traveling to work on a bus, when given the option of luxurious accommodation he opted instead for a simple apartment, when elected Cardinal he exhorted his friends to forego the cost of plane tickets to Rome to give the money to those in need and he visited a hospice to care for and wash the feet of patients suffering from AIDS.
He has a sense of humour and a generous smile. When he waved to the people gathered in the grounds of the St Peters Basilica, he was calm and sympathetic and in his speech to the crowds he joked that ‘the Cardinals have gone to the end of the Earth to find me’, a reference to his Latin American roots. He is said to be traditional and conservative in aspects of doctrine, but also pastoral in his approach. That he comes from the developing world is a nod to diversity.
May our future and his be blessed.
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