UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
by Michael Sean Winters | Mar. 14, 2013
In the days and weeks ahead, we will find out more about Pope Francis. We will find his writings, all of which will be translated into many languages very soon. We will listen to interviews with people who know him, who have worked with him. We will watch him as he begins to flesh out his own papacy. But, today, we should not rush past the amazing human aspect of yesterday’s events.
Ever since Benedict announced his surprise resignation, it has felt less like Lent and more like Advent. It has been a time of expectancy. As in Advent, when we know it will conclude with the birth of the Savior, we knew this sede vacante period would conclude with a new pope. But, just as Israel expected a different kind of Savior from the one she received, most of the world, and most of the commentators, myself included, were surprised by the selection of Cardinal Bergoglio as the new pope. There is a very Catholic sensibility here: Grace is often surprising in the ways it manifests itself and the selection of this man reminds us of that fact.
Before we saw the man, we hard the name: Francis. When some clerics talk about the New Evangelization, the focus on using twitter. But, as I have tried to argue, the New Evangelization must be about something deeper, a more radical fidelity to the Gospel and the various claims it makes upon us. St. Francis is the model, and not only because he is, after the Blessed Mother, the most beloved of Catholic saints. He is the model because Christ shines forth in His Church when we are close to the poor because Christ is found amongst the poor.
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