"HABEMUS PAPAM" (We had a Pope)

(Published at The Asian Word, printed version)

On March 13th, the Catholic Church have chosen its 266th Pope: the Argentine Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio (76 years old), who took the papal nameFrancis. That way, he became the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to be chosen Pope.

His first words as leader of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State were a kind of joke about how far he came from: “It seems that my brothers the Cardinals had to look for a Pope close to the end of the world”. Francis also asked for a prayer on behalf of his predecessor Benedict XVI.

In Buenos Aires, where Francis lived, he had a low profile, he used to travel by public transportation and to promote ecumenical meetings. His strong position against abortion, gay marriage, adoption by same-sex couples and euthanasia brought him some issues with the local government. Indeed, he criticized the wealthy who had not into account to the poor: "poor people who are persecuted for demanding work, and rich people who are applauded for fleeing from justice” he denounced to a local newspaper.

On the other hand, a local journalist published a book with a denunciation against him and the Catholic Church for collaborating with the military dictatorship in the ’70. But the elected Pope had defended himself a couple of years ago saying that he gave people shelter on church property during these years of the dictatorship.

From now on, Catholics and no Catholics are expecting how the second no-European Pope will work. It matters not only how the new Pope leads his Church but also how the inter-religious relationships will be.

#ENGLISH #liderazgo #ddhh