Thanks, Kendall, for taking a break from your throttling back of the blog for Lent in order to assemble such a wide array of helpful links.  We are all curious to know as much as we can about the new pope, and this collection of early information that’s currently available is not only useful but edifying.  The glowing tribute by ++Greg Venables is particularly significant and impressive.

There is considerable irony in the fact that the Roman Catholic Church, so much more theologically conservative than Anglicanism is, has taken a bold step in the direction of showing that it takes the Global South more seriously than we do.  The official leaders of the Catholic Church are willing to let someone from the Global South lead, unlike the powers that be in Anglicanism.  In particular, it is incredibly important and symbolic that the new pope, like St. Francis of Assissi, embraces simplicity of life himself and is a champion of the poor.  We are waiting to see more of what ++Justin Welby will be like as ABoC, but as someone who went to Eton and comes from the most privileged sector of British society, Welby has shown no similar inclination to identify himself with the poor in so clear and compelling a fashion.

The two-thirds of the world who live in desperate poverty, whether Catholic or not, may well come to think of Pope Francis I as a father figure, caring and supportive.  In a world so often bereft of strong, wise, healthy fathers and authority figures, maybe even many of us Anglicans can rejoice with our RC brothers and sisters, and thank God that we too “have a father,” a papa in Rome.  Habemus Papam!

David Handy+

Fr. Handy, I had a feeling that they would choose a cardinal from the Global South because that is the seat of church growth. In the recent papal elections, African cardinals have been among the frontrunners, as well.

I’ve been considering what it means that they chose a South American rather than an African. In Latin America, the church hierarchy are quite involved in the political landscape, hence liberation theology, which the pope flat out rejects, reportedly. I’m not surprised by the claims by radicals surfacing, not that I believe them.

But there is a tension there in how much the clergy there gets involved in political movements and tactics to help the poor and oppressed. Archbishop Oscar Romero paid with his life. Because many in the hierarchy propped up corrupt regimes and the elite in the past, the pendulum swung far to the left. Clerical celibacy is more like a wink and a nod in much of South America, too.

So this will be interesting. Pope Francis seems to be a holy reformer. I am eager to see what tone he will set, which battles he will choose and how he will navigate the heavy-handed Vatican culture.