On Thursday, day two of the papal conclave, white smoke arose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. A new pope had been chosen. If you know little about Catholicism, the traditions around choosing a new pope may seem highly mysterious, but this was exciting for Catholics around the world. Agreement so soon bodes well for the new pontiff.
If you watched the movie, The Conclave, you may have a little insight into how much intrigue could go on in and around the beautiful Sistine Chapel. These are really smart men with definite opinions around future steps for the church. No longer dominated by Italians, nor by Europeans, the choice of the second pope from the Americas is a HUGE statement. Other close contenders were from Africa and the Philippines. Fears of a super conservative popular bishop from the Czech Republic taking the church backwards were not realized.
Almost universally this choice was praised. As a lapsed Catholic I was super excited to listen to the Pope speak live in Italian to the world. I don’t speak Italian and I understood exactly what he was saying. I was translating it to my friends and I wasn’t far off. When he changed to Spanish, I stopped translating because my friends spoke Spanish and I felt overwhelmed by a moment from the gospels. Was he speaking in tongues? Or was his message of peace and care for the poor universal to all languages?
So this is a Chicago born priest who spent most of his life in Peru and the last 10 years in Italy. Did you notice that he did not speak in English from the balcony? This had to be carefully decided. Stay tuned to see how he uses his multi-culturalism to unite the church. May he bring grace to the rest of us as well.
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