White smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican on Wednesday, March 13 signaling that a new pope was chosen. With this new pope, the Catholic Church is about to see a whole lot of firsts. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is now the first elected Argentinian pope. He also marks the first time that the Catholic Church will be led by a Jesuit, known to be the more liberal order of the Catholic religious orders which include the Dominicans and the Franciscans.
The overall feedback of the new Pope, who chose Francis as his name, is for the most part pretty positive. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 39 percent of Catholics are Latin American, so it is obvious that the Latin American community would be very excited about Pope Francis’s election. Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, home to one of the largest communities of Argentinians, acknowledges this in a statement on the Archdiocese of Miami website, by saying the election was a “great day of rejoicing here in the New World, for Pope Francis is an American. As Blessed John Paul II repeatedly told us: America is one, not North and South. And Latin America, with the world’s largest number of Catholics, is, as Pope Benedict reminded us, a continent of hope.”
Besides being Latin American, Pope Francis’s overall demeanor is already being noted. Many Catholics are finding him more humble and open than the last pope, Pope Benedict, who was seen as more closed off. Gretchen Rodriguez, President of the Catholic Student Association at UT expressed her opinion on the new pope, “In just a few days, Pope Francis has shown simple signs that demonstrate his spiritual depth and his simplicity. His greeting in St. Peter’s square, his request to pray for him before giving the blessing and his spontaneity are examples [of] how humble Pope Francis is. He is more of a people person as compared to Pope Benedict who was characterized for being reserved.” Besides the fact that he is Latin American and a Jesuit, his humbleness is another factor that is slowly breaking away from Catholic tradition. Rodriguez added, “Instead of washing priests’ feet in a symbolic gesture of humility on Holy Thursday, Francis will wash the feet of young inmates at a juvenile detention center in Rome.”
Over the past decade, the Catholic Church has been under fire for cases of sex abuse brought on by the clergy. Pope Francis’s genuine display of care for others may help restore the image of the Church. When asked what changes she would like to see with the new pope, Rodriguez stated, “I think Pope Francis will put a special emphasis on cleaning the church’s image regarding the sexual abuses and the Vatican Financials. He will bring transparency in the Vatican.”
Other issues people are hoping Pope Francis will address circle around the environment. In his first Palm Sunday as the Pope, Pope Francis encouraged the crowd to live simple lives by saying, “My grandmother used to say, ‘children, burial shrouds don’t have pockets.’” This went along with his sermon that you “can’t take it with you” meaning that as we die we cannot take material possessions with us and that we must focus on enriching our soul. By practicing what he preaches, his simple life actually helps the environment by leaving just a small carbon footprint. When he was the archbishop of Argentina he took the bus every day, lived in a small apartment rather than the palace many archbishops live in and cooked his own meals. Chris Bain, director of Catholic development agency Cafod told The Guardian, “I hope he will put global poverty, climate change and environmental degradation higher up the church agenda.” While it is too early to know Pope Francis’s stance on these matters, he is already showing signs that he might lean more towards an emphasis on environmental issues.
Though the Jesuit order is known for being more liberal and practicing serving those less fortunate, it doesn’t appear that anything in the Catholic Church will change as far as same-sex marriage and abortion goes. Pope Francis has already made it known that he opposes the two, so that will be one of the traditions he will not be breaking away from.
As a Catholic, I believe those are issues that need to be at least revisited and reviewed. The fact of the matter is, there are people that are raised Catholic and will eventually come to a crossroad with their faith and their sexuality. I believe that this is an issue that needs to be at least considered and not just swept under the rug. Pope Francis will have time to go into his reasoning and his beliefs in the coming months and years, so we will have to wait and hear him out on this.
I find myself, along with many other people, to be very excited about this fresh new face to represent the Catholic Church. I transferred from a Jesuit university and while there I took note of how much emphasis was placed on service and I believe Pope Francis will and already is, practicing what the Jesuits teach. As the great Mother Teresa once said, “Live simply so others may simply live.” Pope Francis demonstrates this with his humble lifestyle and I think we could learn a great deal from him and maybe even see an increase of service work in the Catholic community.
Vanessa Righeimer can be reached at vanessa.righeimer@spartans.ut.edu