Welcome Pope Francis I

Today Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina was elected the new Pope of the Catholic Church.

What is your name?
He answered:
"Francis"

Now - Pope Francis I

I am one of the over one billion Catholics in the world. My opinion is not earth shattering or a deal breaker but I am going to tell you anyway:

I am hopeful - perhaps even joyfilled at this election.

Pope Francis is:

a prayerful and pastoral priest

a man who lives simply, cooks is own food and rides the bus just like the many people he now Shepherds. 

a Jesuit

a man of South America who represents the dominant group of the Church members

and

this is a man who chose the name Francis - allying himself with the beloved St. Francis of Assisi, a man who championed the poor and who turned his back on trappings of the world.

What's not to love? How can you not feel hopeful for change in the troubled Church?

I feel like praying for him, the Church and all of us in the world in the words of St. Francis -

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.