“Nora! Why do you
think they keep ringing the bells in the cathedral?” That’s when I knew a new pope had been
chosen. All afternoon I was running up
and down the stairs of the office trying to listen to newscasts in both English
and Spanish about who the next pope would be.
There was suspense in the air, trying to win the competition of who
would be the first to find out which cardinal was elected and if he would be
from South America or not.
As Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio walked out, I watched, waiting
to figure out who he was and what he would say.
When he bowed asking for a blessing from the people, whom he would be
serving, before giving them his blessing, I had a good feeling. When we found out he chose the name Francis
after Francis of Assisi, the good feeling grew.
When I heard from the news commentators that he was a Jesuit, my hope
grew more. Having served in the Jesuit
Volunteer Corp, I came to appreciate greatly the values of Simplicity,
Community, Prayer, and Service.
I’ve always said that Francis of Asisi and Ignatius of
Loyola were very similar, despite what each of their orders say about the other
in jest. They both came from the upper
classes, both were soldiers and suffered physically from battle, and while
recovering had major conversions, recognizing what made life meaningful and
recognizing God in other people. Two
people who really lived out what it means to love and to serve, and these same
two people are clearly significant to Cardinal Bergoglio, and that type of deep
respect and appreciation doesn’t happen all that often, so I was really
surprised.
To be fair, I should not judge what kind of a leader Pope
Francis will be based on his past. As a
Christian Brother commented to me the other day, none of us like to be judged
based on our past, rather given an opportunity in the present, free of judgment. I don’t know what Pope Francis will do,
whether he will continue to maintain his habits of simplicity (taking public
transportation to work, even as a cardinal; cooking his own meals), but the
fact that we both share an affinity for the values and way of life of Saints
Ignatius and Francis, I am very hopeful he will continue to follow Jesus’
example and teachings, using Ignatius and Francis as constant examples and
inspirations to follow.
Of course it was exciting for almost everybody here in
Cochabamba, Bolivia that someone from a neighboring country was named pope,
that in itself is a pretty big deal. The
Catholic Church, which is made up of individual people, is extremely diverse,
and it’s nice to see someone in the leadership role who is from the southern
hemisphere, where so many of those individual people have lived their lives.
Yet, I’ve also heard negative commentaries in the news,
mostly from people in Argentina, who say he didn’t support them when they
needed support. The Argentinian
president and homosexual community have also criticized him. I’m not sure what has happened in his life
before now, but I do hope very much that he be a leader who holds true to
serving the marginalized, loving and not hating, seeking peace where there is
conflict, and respecting the environment in its entirety.
