Now that I have had more time to look at the many reports about our new pope, I felt I should give a little more information and reflection to this amazing event in our Church history.
The Holy Spirit has surprised us all. Giving us...the first non-European pope...the first Latin American pope...the first Jesuit pope...AND...the first pope to call himself Francis. I thought it was interesting that we can already see the direction of our new leader. As one reporter said..."the three keys to his pontificate will be humility, reform and evangelization."
Looking at his humility...above all else this is made clear by his lifestyle and his reaction to being selected as pope. He chose to wear a simple white cassock without flare or embellishment...as well as no stole, and his pectoral cross was the same simple one that he has worn as bishop and Cardinal archbishop. Furthermore, when his cardinal brothers paid him homage, instead of sitting on the papal throne, he stood as he received them. I see this as a way to show that he is an equal to the others. He even refused to take the papal car that had been prepared for him choosing to take the same minibus he had arrived in along with the other cardinals. He also picked up his luggage at a Vatican hotel, personally thanked each member of the staff and even paid his own bill. Then, at his first Mass, he delivered a short, unscripted homily — in Italian, not the Latin of his predecessor — holding the cardinals who elected him responsible for keeping the church strong.
Pope Francis briefly addressed the cardinals at the festive supper, after thanking them, quipping, "May God forgive you [for what you have done]."
Pope Francis suggested to the people of his homeland that, instead of coming to Rome for the inauguration of his pontificate on March 19, they make a charity offering to the poor.
Do not let this quiet demeanor fool you!....He will also be a reformer for the Church. I pray not in the way that the liberal media suggests, but instead as one who will bring the Church into the modern age through prayer.
Here is his stand (which shows his compassionate conservative Church views) on several of the moral issues of the day:
Sanctity of Marriage
During his first morning as Pope, Pope Francis, prayed for nearly 30 minutes at the altar of Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major. Before leaving, he greeted a married couple and gave his blessing to a woman who is five months pregnant.
When the issue of gay “marriage” arose in Argentina, the new Pope argued strongly against it, saying “At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and children. At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts. Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.”
Pro-Life
In February 2005, he chose to celebrate the Mass for Holy Thursday in a maternity hospital in Buenos Aires, where he washed the feet of 12 expectant and new mothers. Before he washed their feet, he told them that “Some of you are holding your babies in your arms. Others of you are carrying them in your womb. All of you are women who have chosen life. I, as a priest, am going to repeat the act of Jesus, and carry out a concrete act of service for women who have said yes to life. In washing your feet, I am washing those of all mothers, and of my mother, who felt me in her womb."
“Abortion is never a solution,” then-Cardinal Bergoglio said on September 16th, 2012. “We listen, support and understanding from our place to save two lives: respect the human being small and helpless, they can take steps to preserve your life, allow birth and then be creative in the search for ways to bring it to its full development.”
On October 11, 2011, he pointed out that “Children are strength and hope, while the elderly are treasures of wisdom. Help us, Our Lady of Luján, to take care of the little ones and the elderly. Help us to protect life from the time they are waiting [to be born] until they take their last breathe along the way.”
Refusal of the Eucharist
“We should commit ourselves to ‘Eucharistic coherence’, that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive holy communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.”
As far as evangelization...Just hours after his election, Pope Francis had a message delivered to Rome's Chief Rabbi, in which he remarks, "I very much hope to be able to contribute to the progress that relations between Jews and Catholics have experienced since the Second Vatican Council, in a spirit of renewed collaboration and at the service of a world that can be ever more harmonious with the will of the Creator." He obviously has a desire to reach out to all of God's Chosen People. This would also include the continuing efforts to reconcile differences with the Greek Orthodox Church.
Because of his humility and spartan lifestyle, everyone takes his name, Francis, to refer solely to the justly famous founder of the Franciscan order. But we wonder if it is not also a reference to another Francis, St. Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Jesuit order and one of the greatest missionaries of all time. This is, after all, the age that the Church has declared as the “New Evangelization.”
He is a pastor of sound doctrine and of concrete realism. "When we journey without the cross ... and when we confess a Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord."
And one last note of encouragement from Pope Francis....Here is a translation of the homily Francis gave at Mass with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. He spoke in Italian without a text.
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There is something that I see that these three readings have in common: movement. In the first reading (exodus 32:7-14) it is the movement of a journey; in the second reading it is the movement in building the Church; in the third, the Gospel (John 5:31-47), it is the movement of confession. Journeying, building, confessing.
Journeying. “House of Jacob, come, let us walk together in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5). This is the first thing that God said to Abraham: Walk in my presence and you will be blameless. Journey: our life is a journey and when we stop it does not go on. Journey always in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness that God asked of Abraham in his promise.
Building. Building the Church.
We must go out and confront the world, Pope Francis insists, not simply sit in the pews. “Jesus teaches us another way,” he told his priests in Argentina last year. “Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.”
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Bergoglio is a man whose words are matched by his actions. A man who does what he calls upon others to do. I think we are going to have our work cut out for us if we follow this leader in the direction he will ask the Church to take. Be ready as the days and weeks go by as we await for Pope Francis to lead us.
The first station...Jesus is condemned to death...Michael was enlisted as Pontius Pilate.
