Habemus Papam

The wait is over. The Roman Catholic College of Cardinals has selected Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to be the new pope. He has taken the unprecedented name of Francis, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who served the poor and was said to be called by Jesus to rebuild His church.

Pope Francis brings a great deal of excitement to the Catholic Church not only as the first pontiff from Latin America (he's ethnically Italian), but also because of his humility and his own devotion to the poor. He has preached against the disregard for the poor and the denial of the rights of the poor to live in decency and comfort, and he has angrily called the Argentine elite to task for its treatment of the lower classes. Francis himself has lived simply, eschewing the posh archbishop's residence in Buenos Aires for a simple apartment, doing his own cooking, and taking public transportation instead of limousines. Having named himself in honor of an advocate of simple living and reverence for the weakest and the most vulnerable among us, he is likely to be seen as a pope for the masses, not just for Masses.

As for the possibility of Pope Francis as a reformer . . . well, don't expect the ordination of women into the priesthood or the allowing of contraception unless there's a Third Vatican Council. (The pope is merely the caretaker of doctrine, not someone who can change the rules at the drop of a hat. Asked about the glacial pace of reform in his pontificate, Pope John XXIII replied, "I'm only the pope around here.") Reform for this pope will come through reworking the Curia, effectively handling the child abuse scandals, and flushing out the rot I referred to in an earlier post. His background as a Jesuit will certainly mean more compassion for the faithful as well as an aggressive evangelizing and an intellectual approach to doctrine. A pope who can bring the Church back to tending to body and soul as Jesus intended is certainly what it needs.

And he could play as big a role in combating the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few as Pope John Paul II was in combating communism. The world could be a friendlier place for many if Pope Francis pursues his duties as vigorously as John Paul did.