UNITED STATES
Reuters
By Mary Wisniewski
CHICAGO | Wed Mar 13, 2013
(Reuters) – Pope Francis will face a divided Church in the United States, with the faithful at odds over issues like contraception, same-sex marriage and married priests.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was chosen to lead the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday. He took the name Pope Francis.
“Intense prayer from all around the world surrounded the election of Pope Francis I,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement. “The bishops of the United States thank God for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspired choice of the College of Cardinals.”
In the United States, the results of November’s presidential election highlighted the divide between Catholics who want the Church to modernize and those who favor its traditional ways. U.S. Catholic bishops pushed hard against policies favoring gay marriage and contraception, warning of the “intrinsic evils” of the Democratic platform. But post-election polling showed that most U.S. Catholics favored Democratic President Barack Obama.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.