At the town event, scores lined up to take photos with the smiling papal cutout with Francis posed smiling in a thumbs-up posture.

"I'm not sure I should, I am Methodist, but I really like the pope, love his merciful plan," said one local who took advantage of the opportunity. Continue reading

Buy a life-size Pope Francis cutout only Aus$89.90

Franciscan Sr Katarina Schuth told the National Catholic Reporter she sees a subtle shift in her classroom in St Paul Seminary in Minnesota.

In recently assigned reflection papers, three of her first-year students wrote about priestly ministry and the poor.

"That's the first in a long time that has been mentioned," she said.

If Francis has a long pontificate, the results will show in seminaries, as more new bishops are appointed, she added.

Seminarians, said Sr Schuth, often model their view of priesthood on their diocesan bishop, a phenomenon she has observed for the past three decades studying seminarians.

Sr Schuth said Francis's influence might diminish the trend towards a "restorationist" view of priesthood among seminarians.

Restorationist outlooks focus on traditional liturgical rubrics and emphasise priests asserting authority.

These have been a feature of seminary life, particularly during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, the NCR article stated.

Sr Schuth noted that recent seminarians have embraced a viewpoint focusing on the specific powers of priesthood, with a diminishment of focus on collaborating with lay people.

There has been a strong emphasis on separating men out for priestly ministry, with separate education and religious training.

Due to a shortage of priests, many seminarians with such viewpoints will be parish priests not long after they are ordained.

Sr Schuth said lay ministers in parishes are getting older, and are more likely to be women. It is a mix which will challenge those men who are ordained in the near future.

But she said that the more seminarians are exposed to Francis, they are more likely to admire his approach.

For example, seminarians at the North American College in Rome, who have regular contact with Francis, tend to have highly positive reactions to his style.

"You can't have contact with him and not like him," she said about Francis.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Catholic World Report

To assess the success of a pope, you have to first identify the major reform he seeks, and then ask how far he has achieved it.

For St. John Paul II, it was "Evangelical Catholicism". After a decade of turbulence and disagreement, he wanted the Church to be more faithful to its traditions and to be braver and more energetic in its proclamation.

Pope Benedict XVI's big idea was the New Evangelization. Faced with the dictatorship of relativism, he sought a Church that could better express the clarity, coherence and power of its teaching in ways credible to the modern mind.

For Francis - and the Latin-American Church as a whole - the plan is ‘Pastoral Conversion'. He wants the Church to be closer to people in the reality of their daily lives, to be simpler, poorer and more accessible, and better able to communicate God's merciful love.

It is the plan laid out in his November 2013 exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, and in barnstorming speeches in Florence, at the close of last year's synod, and recently in Mexico City.

Along with his teaching documents, each pope also has a privileged mechanism for bringing about that conversion.

For John Paul II, it was traveling and visibility on a global scale. For Benedict XVI, it was the synod for the New Evangelization and the Vatican office he created to implement it.

For Francis, it is the synod on the family (leading to its fruit, the forthcoming exhortation "Amoris Laetitia" ) and the Jubilee of Mercy.

Now that we are close to what is probably the halfway point of the Francis' papacy, it is time to ask: How far has the Church been "pastorally converted"?

On one level, of course, it's way too early to say. But there are three indications the strategy is making its mark. Continue reading

• Austen Ivereigh is a writer, journalist, broadcaster, and author of The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope (now out in Picador paperback, with a new, updated epilogue).

He talked to Chapman about being called to the priesthood, the church's work for social justice, the meaning of Easter in the modern world, and the hope placed in the Pope.

"Easter is a wonderful opportunity for us to show that we are people of hope, we can continue to be people of hope, where we have noticed in the last couple of years, that the number coming to Easter ceremonies have increased, and we think that is part of what is known as the Francis effect, which is around the world," said Cardinal John.

He said the Francis effect is profound, "There are books written on the Francis effect, and it has been spoken about pretty soon after he was elected."

"I've heard people say myself, I can belong to this Church again, you know the Pope has given me great hope."

"I'm astounded at the number of people, not just Catholic people, but people all over the place, who comment on the actions of Pope Francis and the hope that he is giving to the world."

Chapman said "Isn't that incredible, the Francis effect? Is it really those small things you talk about, queuing for your coffee, driving a little Ford Fiesta instead of a chauffeured vehicle, not having the protection on his car, paying for the hotel bill, going by bus?"

"All of those things speak loudly," agreed Cardinal John.

Earlier in the interview Cardinal John said he did not want to detract from the previous popes, "it is just his way and, of course, it endears him to everybody who is there, and people see that humble act of just lining up for coffee like everybody else."

Cardinal John said the biggest issues facing the Church in New Zealand were adapting the liturgy so that it meets the diverse spiritual and devotional needs of New Zealand's multicultural society, and finding ways to make the Gospel speak to people today so that it applies to their daily life.

He said it is a big challenge to many people, "It is not just about going to church for an hour on Sunday, its is living the Gospel."

Listen to the interview. This link will take you to the Sunday Morning programme. You will then need to scroll down to the link Cardinal John Dew - Prayer and Protest, and click on it

Image: icatholic.ie

The man responsible for the change in the Church's public reputation is Pope Francis, a candid Jesuit who seems a world away from his traditionalist predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

His effect on the Church seems so palpable that it has a name: the Francis effect — the idea that he has brought change to the Church and, by doing so, can call the world's wayward Catholics back to Mass in droves.

Recently, the Pew Research Center conducted a poll that revealed the promise — and the shortcomings — of the Francis effect.

According to the poll, over 80 percent of Catholics view him as the leader in a favorable change for the Church, a new direction for a centuries-old institution not exactly notorious for changing its mind on anything.

Francis' popularity ratings hearken back to the days of Pope John Paul II, whose emphasis on interfaith dialogue and the importance of young Catholics won huge approval from believers and non-believers alike.

However, the results of the poll also suggested that regular Mass attendance, volunteer service and attendance at the sacrament of Reconciliation have not significantly increased since Pope Francis stepped into the Vatican.

Now, people are asking, "Why?"

The answer is because one man, no matter how revolutionary or wonderful, cannot save a Church damaged by decades of indiscretion and abuse in one year.

This isn't to say that Pope Francis hasn't had a positive affect on churchgoers.

A mountain of anecdotal evidence stands in support of Francis for creating a more welcoming Church for single mothers, for gay, lesbian and bisexual Catholics, and anybody who hasn't really been traditionally welcomed at his or her local parish's doors.

For many, Pope Francis drew open the dusty curtains of a rules-obsessed Vatican and let the light in. Continue reading

Source

• Lauren Boyle in Huff Post Religion
• Image: Twitter

Lauren Boyle is a teacher, writer, and grad student living in Philadelphia.

Sales of hooded tops and T-shirts supporting the papacy have shot up by about 20 per cent since the election of the new Holy Father, according to one firm.

Catholics With Attitude, which has offices in London and Glasgow, said its bestselling items were garments bearing quotes from Pope Francis. The strongest selling of all of them carries the words: "Rebel Against This Culture."

The slogan comes from the Argentine Pontiff's address at Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the 2013 World Youth Day in July when he effectively called three million young pilgrims to a sexual counter revolution, telling them to reject transient hedonism for the commitment of marriage and family life.

"I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the tide," he said at the time. Continue reading