Annuntio vobis
gaudium magnum
Habemus Papam!
A Church that will not stay still, a non-static Church, we
can be sure that this will be the church of Pope Francis.
This has always set Bergoglio apart.
A great Jesuit, a man of excellent formation, above all,
he is a man of action.
If we read Pope Francis' writings we're going to always
see this concern with going to the frontiers of poverty,
of exclusion and of those who are furthest from God.
He was always a person who had a lot of courage and plenty of
bravery to stand before the powerful and say what he
thought; the voice of those who had no voice;
that was Cardinal Bergoglio.
A man who is kind of a desert saint and a great
and brilliant administrator.
The combination of these two characteristics is
not very common.
Pope Francis, whose life has been exemplary in precisely
the type of personal witness that the new
evangelization calls for.
He becomes the model for millions of Catholics around
the world today.
A Pope not only from Argentina, not only from Latin America,
but a Pope from the New World.
A Pope from The Americas, from the Ecclesia in America
that John Paul II dreamed of.
Latin America has gone through some very difficult times,
but the fact that we have these great qualities and great
values such as religious fervor, that strong sense of family,
those cultural roots, and ancestral peoples.
With this accumulation of cultural and religious wealth
which can now be shared at a universal level,
this is an important moment.
For me, the election of the new Pope, Pope Francis, who is the
first Pope from the American continent, it's a special sign
from God that we need to participate actively in the life
of the Church and it is a time for all of us to feel the
responsibility of being an important part of the life
of the Church.
I was impressed by his efforts not to be captured by the office
but to be actually himself in the service of the office
of St. Peter.
He didn't want to only be the Pope, he wanted to be
a human being.
He paid his own bills, he asked for a blessing of the people on
the balcony of St Peter's, and I hope he continues to exercise
his individual personality in the context of his
service as Pope.
And in this Pope we have someone who teaches by his
personal witness and by the language that he uses to relate
to the average person.
He said, "Hello, this is Jorge."
When he told me that he was Jorge, I asked, "The Pope"?
And he said, "Yes, how did you recognize my voice?"
And I told him, "How wouldn't I recognize you?"
He is very humble.
And she says to me very surprised "The Pope is calling."
And I told her, "Well put him through."
And he said, "Happy birthday!"
And I told him, "How are you Jorge?
Well, Francis now."
But he likes to be called Jorge like always.
He is very close to many people and he remembers their birthdays
and so, even though he was announced as Pope he also
remembered my birthday.
He showed something he has always lived, that joy of being
with the people; I believe that now he understands that his
Petrine ministry is for the people.
In the days after his election, the world asked, "what can we
expect from this simple and humble Pope?
This is the big question that I don't have sufficient authority
to answer, so I have to refer to his words.
A church that will not stay still, a non-static church,
we can be sure that this will be the church of Pope Francis.
There is a phrase 'the person who stays locked in a room will
suffocate,' he speaks of a Church that is not
self-referential, a church that reaches out to the people.
He wants a Holy Church, or at least one that strives to obtain
virtue and that virtue has to be demonstrated particularly in
poverty, that is why he chose the name Francis.
In his first international voyage, Pope Francis traveled
to Brazil for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.
There he welcomed millions of young people, challenging them
to discover the transformative power of their Catholic faith.
If we think back to the election of Pope John Paul II in the
1970's, we saw this great awakening of Christianity
behind the Iron Curtain.
The great challenge today is: how do we deal with the new
globalization of the Church where the vast majority of
Catholics today live in poverty?
And so, now with Pope Francis may be able to do for the
Western Hemisphere what John Paul II was able to do for
Europe and the Soviet bloc.
What a Pope does in our age can reach far beyond the Catholic
Church and the election of Pope Francis means that the poor now
have the most important spiritual leader on Earth as a
very personal advocate for them.
His election challenges everyone to look at their neighbor
differently, to reach out in charity, and to understand that
every life deserves our help.
There is the potential for a real global reawakening of love
of neighbor as a result of this Pope's leadership.