A new Pope

annis · Post by **annis** » Wed March 13th, 2013, 7:47 pm

Not a Catholic, but given the significant historical place of the Papacy, I felt an amazing sense of history in being able to watch live the formal procedure of announcing and presenting a new Pope. Not for the first time, feeling the technological miracle that we now take for granted of being as close to events as they happen as is possible without actually being there

Don't envy him his job, though - years of denial and refusal to adapt have led the Catholic Church to crisis point.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Wed March 13th, 2013, 9:35 pm

The first South American Pope, too -- though of Italian parentage. I salute Benedict's choice to retire. It always seemed a little sadistic to pick an old man for an exhausting job and then insist he keep at it until he drops dead.

princess garnet · Post by **princess garnet** » Wed March 13th, 2013, 10:30 pm

I saw the white smoke on CNN's live coverage earlier this afternoon. I heard some of the Holy Father's speech on news radio too. I could understand some of what he was saying because of my knowledge of French.

I've been reading the coverage on "National Catholic Register" online. Another one I've looked at is bigpulpit.com which is a daily roundup of the Catholic blogging world. This has been an awesome day!

annis · Post by **annis** » Thu March 14th, 2013, 3:12 am

Pope Francis I is not only the first Latin-American Pope but the first Jesuit to become Pope (Francis Xavier, founder of the Society of Jesus, may perhaps have inspired his choice of papal name). Reading something of his profile, he sounds like a good choice, if an unexpected one, being a man who favours simplicity and a return to pastoral roots, passionate about social equality and modernizing the Church. I wish him luck!

(Forget contraception and gay marriage, though.... ironically, gay marriage is actually legal in Argentina- who knew?)

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Thu March 14th, 2013, 3:36 pm

[quote=""MLE""]The first South American Pope, too -- though of Italian parentage. I salute Benedict's choice to retire. It always seemed a little sadistic to pick an old man for an exhausting job and then insist he keep at it until he drops dead.[/quote]

Popes have always been allowed to retire, MLE. It's just that for the last several hundred years none of them had chosen to do so.

I'm rather hoping for good things from Pope Francis. I figure he's either going to be one of the best popes we've ever had or the worst one yet. Hoping for the former, of course. He seems to be all the things we need, but appearances can be deceiving. I will pray for him.

princess garnet · Post by **princess garnet** » Thu March 14th, 2013, 8:54 pm

Throwing this out there--Orthodox Patriarchs hold their offices for life once elected

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Wed March 20th, 2013, 3:17 am

As do most popes, princess_garnet. Speaking of which...

Bartholomew I went to the installation. Pretty cool considering that hasn't happened since 1054.