VIVA FRANCISCO!!!

Congratulations on the Papal council making a relatively quick decision to elect Francis I, the first non-European pope in 1200 years.  As a priest and Bishop in Argentina, he was noted for his piety and humilty, often visiting the slums in Argentina's cities and expressing care for the poor. He was also the first Jesuit chosen, quite interesting as the Jesuits have always been the mavericks, fighting the old boy network in Rome on many occasions.  At least the old boy network has broken the mould!

At 76, he does not fulfill the wishes of many Catholics for a younger, more vigorous pope. He has suffered some health problems and only has one lung. As a non-Roman Catholic (we Episcopalians are considered Anglo-Catholics with many similarities in liturgy to the Roman church but doctrinal differences, such as not accepting the infallibility of the pope and with less emphasis on the Virgin Mary), I am skeptical if he will rock the boat and make many changes to the basic tenets of the church; for example, celibacy, allowing priests to marry and ordaining women.  "Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished", in the words of the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon, but not likely.

American Catholics are, on the whole, fed up with the whole mess of sex and pedophile scandals and even the celibacy issue. My wife and I had drinks yesterday with a couple from my small hometown in Ohio, daughter and son-in-law of old friends. The husband is from a devout Roman Catholic family, while the daughter was born Episcopal. She has never fought the church and has gone along with raising the children as Catholics and even attending Catholic schools, although she has not converted to Catholicism. This couple went to our Episcopal church with her parents last Sunday, and the daughter's husband was wowed by the eloquence and devotion of our dynamic woman priest. I'm sure he, like many other Catholics, must be wondering about the future with a shortage of male priests, and seeing the power of an extraordinary priest who happens to be a woman must have given him pause.

It is my hope, as an outsider looking in, that Catholicism can go through a renaissance or epihany with this new pope. Maybe he can look into the future and see the need for the Roman church to become more relevant to its congregations and to our age.

I wish him well in such an endeavor.