The election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Borgiglio was a surprising outcome, and even if Bergoglio suspected something was up, few others did, including many of the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel with him. “I think it all came together in an extraordinary fashion,” Chicago Cardinal Francis George told the Chicago Tribune. George said Bergoglio’s name Read more
At a time when the Catholic Church was sinking into opulence and pomposity, a powerful religious countercurrent formed in the High Middle Ages: beggar-monks like Francis of Assisi, who preached abstinence and humility. A profile of the religious leader who has become the new pope’s namesake. Editor’s note: After his election to the papacy this Read more
An estimated 150,000 – 200,000 people crammed into St Peter’s Square, Sunday, to listen to Pope Francis’ first Angelus message. The Angelus message traditionally focuses on international issues, however Francis used the occasion to focus attention on the need for mercy. “A bit of mercy can make the world less cold and fairer,” he told Read more
Perhaps the worst of all the unthinkable candidates, is how the international traditional Catholic blog Rorate Caeli describes the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis. The traditional blog, claims to have friends all around the world, including Argentina, where Marcelo Gonzalez of Panorama Catolico International, claims to give local in sight into the local archbishop. Republishing Gonzalez Read more
Minutes after his election, Pope Francis began giving the world a foretaste of his pontificate, signalling that some change is likely. As he appeared for the first time, Francis’ choice of a simple white cassock made a very clear and immediate statement. BBC reports that soon after the election result was declared in the Sistine Read more
Leaders of Muslim, Jewish and other non-Catholic faiths are welcoming the election of Pope Francis, many expect improved interfaith relation. In an unprecedented event, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, will also attend Pope Francis’ installation Mass in Rome March 19. The appearance by the Ecumenical Patriarch, the “first among equals” of all the world’s Read more
Pope Francis has decided that all top administrators in the Vatican bureaucracy will keep their posts while he reflects on any necessary changes, the Vatican said on Saturday. There had been speculation that the new pope could make swift changes to the Curia, the Vatican bureaucracy that has been at the center of allegations of Read more
Born in Argentina, Pope Francis is the first Latin American to lead the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the first Jesuit. “It seems my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world [to choose a pope],” he told the crowd in St Peter’s Square in his first address, a joke which belied Read more
In less than 24 hours after he became the first non-European pope in some 1,300 years, Pope Francis seemed to break more rules than his predecessor did in eight years. “We are going to have to get used to a new way of doing things,” said Father Tom Rosica, a Vatican Spokesman said. On the Read more
While everyone agrees that the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis is unprecedented in many ways, it is not entirely a surprise. He was runner up to Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 Conclave that saw him elected as Pope Benedict XVI. Bergoglio is the first Jesuit, first Latin American and first Pope from Read more