From what I’ve seen of Pope Francis in the last 24 hours, he
appears to be a revolutionary – in the good sense.
After his election, he received all the cardinals standing,
and not on the papal throne. After we saw him in the balcony, he headed back to
where all the cardinals were staying for dinner. But instead of taking the
special papal car, he got on the minibus with all the Cardinals. During dinner,
he jokingly told them “May God forgive you” for what they had done by electing
him.
This morning he was up early and headed over to the Basilica
of Saint Mary Major’s to offer flowers to the Blessed Mother there. He drove in
a simple service car – not the usual papal car again. On the way back to the
Vatican, he stopped by the residence – “Paulus VI” near Piazza Navona - where
he had been staying before the conclave to collect his belongings and pay his
bill. Wow!
One of my friends told me that when Pope Francis was first
named a Cardinal, the Italian tailor wanted to charge him €6,000 for his
cassock. (mine cost about €400) Instead, he bought the cloth in Italy, and
asked his sister to sew the cassock for him! Double Wow!
He chose the name “Francis” after Saint Francis of Assisi.
By this he is definitely announcing to the world his intention to follow in the
steps of the poor man of Assisi who won the hearts of Popes and Sultans by his
humility and holiness.
In his first homily this afternoon to the Cardinals, he
said: “when we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, when we
profess a Christ without the Cross … we aren't disciples of the Lord. We are
worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the
Lord.” Triple Wow!
Some might say, “oh, sure, and he wants to bring the Church
back to the middle ages too!” To that I’d respond that for one, he is the first
Pope who had his own Twitter and Facebook accounts before becoming Pope.
Second, don’t judge your eggs until they’ve hatched: we need to keep our eyes
on Francis in the days and months to come to try to truly understand him. What
the newspapers and TV and bloggers are saying right now are just first
impressions and hearsay and things from the past. Let’s try to listen to
Francis himself and develop our own opinions.
In that vein, some have asked me where I get my news. I have
three ways:
1)
My eyes and ears- I live in Rome and try to read
or listen to what the Pope actually says
2)
I receive a daily email from the Vatican
Information Service (sign up at http://mlists.vatican.va/mailman/listinfo/visnews_en
)
I recommend using these sources because they give you
Vatican News as it really happens – what the Pope says, who he meets with, what
he does. Everything’s better straight from the horse’s mouth!
I better close here. I’m including some photos. In the rush
yesterday, I forgot to include photos of Pope Francis as he came out. Here they
are.
May God bless you!
Brother Kevin
PS By the way, today is 9 months till my ordination,
God-willing, as a priest.
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