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| Pope Francis is a protege of the Jesuit Superior General Arrupe. |
The piece below appears in today's Irish Daily Star.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first Jesuit pope, the first pope to take the name Francis and the first pope from the Americas.
The son of a railway worker, whose parents emigrated from Italy.
It all sounds good and he even looks like John XXlll.
His first appearance in St Peter's gave the impression of a man who might well turn the tide away from the men in lace. And what good fortune that would pave for the church right now. It is desperately needed.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires he had a reputation for being a man genuinely interested and concerned for the poor and marginalised. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said yesterday that the new pope was a man of deep pastoral concern and a man of great simplicity.
Many people have already commented on his simplicity and simple dress when he appeared on the balcony of St Peter's last evening. And he managed too to control the crowd with the gentlest of words.
What a relief it would be if our new pope was a man of genuine simplicity, interested in the day-to-day concerns of ordinary people, who are living with pain and suffering, joy and happiness too. A man who is not going to preach down to us and lay down the law, rather a man who will listen to our pain with a sympathetic ear. A man who will inspire us.
On a personal note I spent some time teaching German in the Jesuit run school, Belvedere and was greatly impressed with how the Jesuits run the school. The order has a reputation for doing things well, something badly needed in the church right now. Pope Francis was provinical of the order in Argentina.
He will have no trouble chatting away with Josef Ratzinger as he speaks perfect German.
2 comments:
Unfortuntaley he may be quite conservative on many issues. Homosexuality, Abortion, Gay Marriage. Issues that often affect marginalised people. To live a simple life as Pope he would need to carefully dismantle the riches of the Catholic establishment.
I don't know. I was happy(ish) until I heard he was associated with Communion & Liberation. That said, he seems to take a pooor view of clericalism and those who have an unhealthy attachment to position and ritual within the Church. I wonder what he'll make of all the boys who love the black? Almost to the point of fetishism. All that dressing-up and drag-queenism. Could be interesting times ahead.
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