The Roman Catholic Church has startled the world by electing, after five ballots, the Argentinean Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 266th Pope. The new pontiff, who has taken the name Francis, is the first Pope from the Americas, the first from outside Europe in 1,300 years, and is the first member of the Society of Jesus to attain the office; aged 76, he is also the oldest of the likely candidates. He accedes to a position of incalculable spiritual and moral authority and even political influence, and will lead an institution facing immense challenges in the form of terrible internal scandals and enormous differences in the lives and attitudes of its 1.2 billion followers. To start with, the Church has been deeply shaken by the exposure of sex scandals among the clergy; in the developed world this seems to consist mainly of the abuse of young men and boys including young priests, and in the developing world of breaches of the vows of lifetime celibacy. Further problems arise from continuing revelations of slow responses to the scandals, in what is tantamount to a concealment strategy. In addition, corruption scandals have surfaced, together with allegations of incompetence within the Curia, the Church’s governing body.
While the question of whether celibacy is too severe a requirement to impose on the priesthood might appear to be in part an internal matter, the Church’s more obviously public involvements are no less fraught. In the last three decades, the institution has reconfirmed highly conservative positions opposing abortion and homosexuality, though condoms to prevent disease transmission within marriage have had papal sanction; caution has also been restated over ecumenism and interfaith dialogue. The impact of these positions, needless to say, varies hugely according to social and cultural differences around the world. In 2008, a United States national survey found that 98 per cent of sexually active Catholic women there use some form of contraception which the Church would ban, and a Pew Research poll found that only 21 per cent of U.S. Catholics think abortion should be illegal. Latin America, home to 40 per cent of all Catholics, may, however, reveal very different public attitudes on such matters. The new Pope is a doctrinal conservative, but his personality and background as a Jesuit may well be an advantage; as a Cardinal he lived in his own modest flat, used public transport, and cooked for himself. Secondly, he favours interfaith contact. Thirdly, he has criticised the effects of unregulated capitalism, calling inequality a social sin that “cries out to Heaven.” Regardless of the limitations of his office and doctrinal approach, His Holiness Pope Francis could yet help to make the world a better place.
Keywords: Papal election, Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Argentinean Cardinal, Roman Catholic Church
white or black, they have ultimaely chosen the best leader to lead
the catholic for the next 10 yeas certain.Let the Pope ensure that no man onearth starve for food and die.Basic requirement for food, shelte, and clothing has to be provided to all in the globe, irrespecive of their caste and creed and if this is done Pope has done his duty for having been elected.and let their not any forced conversion from other religion for Christianity. Let every religion lives to serve other human being on earth.
Long live the Pope... So happy that he has chosen the name of the simple
saint Francis...by the last 3 points captured in this editorial, you
have provided his persona in a nut shell...
Celibacy is followed in many other religions by their priests. Mistakes done by certain people should not always compel to take a decision of abolishment of celibacy. Celibacy is not a punishment imposed on priests. Moreover, some films and books are not to be considered proofs for that our Lord led a married life. The first comment in this post hurt deeply our faith.
Can we say in a lighter vein that the church has scored brownie points by electing a non-white after centuries.The one striking feature of his balcony appearance was that he did not pretend to become a holier than thou man all of a sudden.He had shown to the world that he is after all transiting from a cardinal to the high office , by appealing to the masses to pray for him. He will be doing a yeomen service not only to the church by staying away from politics and try not to hurt other religions if not outrightly reaching out to them.He can also find a realistic answer to the question, whether priests can follow a normal social life and answer their basic instincts like fellow human beings than shutting themselves from the society and indulge in all scandals behind closed doors. Afterall, when their Lord himself is believed to have led a normal human life and gave birth to a girl child, why punish the normal humans in the name of religion?
How the 266th pontiff hailing from Argentina, is going to fill the
space of Curia is unknown. One hopes the Jesuit Pope, marked for his
simplistic way of living has a greater role to play in nailing
paedophilia and the alleged malfeasance in papacy ,left unresolved by
his predecessor.Striking a departure from the centuries old tradition
of Popes of the West leading the papacy,it is the first ever
Argentinian who has risen to the coveted position thanks indeed to the
growing Catholicism in Latin American countries. The rich custom of
selecting the Pope from the eligible collegium smacks of their faith
in democratic credentials,and is contrary to the one of nominating the
heirs by the senior pontiffs as still being observed in a few
religion.The white smoke replacing the black being emitted from the
chimney of the church symbolises the smooth selection unmarred by
dissentions or cacophony.
It was very interesting to read quality newspapers like The Guardian, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Le Monde after Wednesday night´s election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new pope.
All the above mentioned newspapers explored the background of Pope Francis,who chose his name as a tribute to St. Francis of Assisi, a man who gave up his wealth to live in poverty and preach. Some note that it´s not an unfitting name for a cardinal who is known in Argentine as the “pope of the poor” for his modesty.
Le Monde, the French newspaper mentions, that Pope Francis, who is 76, is unlikely to head the Holy See long enough to massively change it. But believers who long for a renewal of the Catholic Church, are nonetheless hopeful that PopeFrancis can help provide a desperately needed modernisation to the Church, which has seen its membership plummet in an increasingly secular Europe.
Pope Francis is the first Jesuit who became pope and more importantly, the first non-European for more than 1,000 years. But Pope´s Francis advanced age creates the impression that the aim was to find a transitional pope.
The list of expectations for Pope Francis are long. One can´t forget that the conclave was made up of 115 cardinals, of whom 67 were appointed by Benedict XVI and 48 by John Paul II. Their average age is 72. There are no revolutionaries.
Reforms of many of the inherited traditions are not at the top of the new pope´s agenda. Instead there is a strengthening the Catholic community and preserving its unity.
Pope Francis needs to build bridges to connect with the people, from Rome to the rest of the world. After all he´s called the pontifex, which literally means bridge-builder.
what you have said in your last sentence is absolutely right. he would
really make the world a better place.
Replacement of smoke from Black to white speaks about the shifting of
global spiritual governance of 120 crore followers towards real
growth.Hidden churning for days in the past signals fierce competition
after the 115 holy men failed to vote four time with clear 77 votes in
favour of one global priest.Fresh breeze as pointed in the text in
shape of industrial chimney productivity shows the better shift in
power equation in line with majority workers and poor
supporters.Followers rejected corruption of ex-pope supporting the
Vatican bank and Corporate non transparent conduct.Several sex
scandals are a shame and booting the control out of Italy and Europe
shows the hunger of followers for a change.Real competition lies with
the state that delivers laws in a secular state while the beneficiary
clearly shall be the 99% supporters.
The head of a religion who believes in socialism can do a lot to the humanity indeed. May he be successful in all endeavour.
World since Jesus Christ is the same,till date. Call it a developed world ,which has
been the only X-factor in the lives of women and children. After St. Peter a line of
Popes have carried the torch as best as they could. Declaring the Supremacy of
Christ. There was this St.Paul, a former Roman official,converted after a dramatic
confrontation,with Christ. This was the man took the message of Jesus to Asia minor
and Rome, the ,then 'developed world'. Jesus commended Children for their purity,'the
developed world' desecrated them. St.Paul was a celebate in duty to Christ and
advocated marraige for the follower who chose to do so. The message was ,a
dedicated practice of Christ mission needed total application to the cause.
Therefore,the new Pope has no option but Christ.Wether or not the followers ,the 1.2
Billion have the same vision of Christ remains to be seen.
There were a series of editorials and articles along the lines of your current editorial when the previous pope was ordained. In the few years of his Papacy, there has been very little changes the main one being acceptance of guilt in the area of sexual abuse.
One cannot expect any major changes in the Catholicism due to the ordination of a new leader. He is bound by conventions and rigid protocals of the Vatican.
Yes he can set an example of humilty and simplicity by carrying his own baggage and cooking his own meals.
What your editorial fails to mention is the Pope's silence during the dark period in Argentenian History.
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