Today was a glorious day! Our next Vicar of Christ was revealed to the world. The emptiness
that has been a part of me since Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation was
filled with joy and hope at the announcement that we have a new pope. That
emptiness was made more tangible at each Mass with the void during the
Eucharist Prayer when the name of our Shepherd was to be mentioned. I can’t
wait for Mass tomorrow morning and to hear, “Remember,
Lord, your Church throughout the world, and bring Her to the fullness of
charity with Francis our Pope…”
We have a
Pope! There was so much excitement in the crowd when the white smoke began to
billow out from the Sistine Chapel chimney and the bells in St. Peter’s
Basilica began to ring. Flags from many countries were being waved and there
were so many young people, seminarians and religious in the crowd. The crowd
grew larger and larger as the people of Rome poured out of their homes, filling
the streets and St. Peter’s square.
A time for
new beginnings! With the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina as
our new pope, there are many firsts. He is our first non-European pope, our
first Latin American pope, our first pope from Argentina, our first Jesuit pope
and our first Pope Francis. So much of the secular world spoke about how the
Catholic Church needs a pope that will revolutionize the church and bring Her
into the 21st century. But those of us who understand that the Truth
does not change no matter how much the world changes knew that would not be the
case; at least not according to their definition of a revolution. What the Church
needs and what the Holy Spirit gave us was a man who is firmly grounded in the
Truth. A man who lives out the gospel each and every day. A man who isn’t
afraid to slay the demons of our world. Just as Christ did, Pope Francis isn’t
afraid to name the demon what it truly is and then drive it out. The Church
will always guard the sanctity of life from the moment of conception to the
moment of natural death. It will always protect the sanctity of marriage
between a woman and a man and the sacredness of the family. The Church needs a
humble, holy man of God to lead us, and we have been given that today. A humble
man who stopped to pray before the Blessed Sacrament before being presented to
the world, and who prayed for Pope Emeritus Benedict and asked the people to
pray for him as he begins this journey. Pope Francis is God’s gift to His
church and to that we say, AMEN!
“I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as
I hear, and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will but the will
of the one who sent me.” (John 5:30)
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