And the winner is…
…Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who has taken the name Pope Francis.
Bergoglio is the first Jesuit to be pope and the first pope from Latin America. It had been widely speculated that a new pope might be chosen from that region.
I note that Bergoglio is an interesting compromise in the diversity sense. He’s from Latin America, but the name “Bergoglio” indicates Italian ancestry, as is true of a huge number of Argentinians. This would make him a semi-throwback to the days when popes tended to be Italian (skimming this list rather quickly indicates that the first non-Italian Pope since medieval times was elected in 1978).
Bergoglio is known as a champion of the poor—and an opponent of abortion, so the left will of course be disappointed in that second aspect of his resume.
At 76 he’s not exactly a spring chicken, so his selection doesn’t necessarily get around the old age problem that faced his predecessor and apparently caused him to resign. Of course, the pool of cardinals from which the pope is drawn consists mostly of the elderly, so it’s highly likely that a pope will be rather old even at the beginning of his term.
poor pope or ANYONE of faith these days
get ready for the onslaught of berating, criticism,
for the “backward unmodern mindset” our leftist media will accuse you of
Odd that “jihad, fatwha, shiria law, & the saudi death penalties for robbery, theft, adultery are all met with a stone wall of silence,
So so easy to assail Christians, after all they turn the other cheek, so pile on
I wonder whether he will have any effect on Hispanics in America. He is against gay marriage, and he apparently stood up to Jesuits who had moved pretty far left. It will be interesting to get to know him.
With age comes often comes wisdom.
What I meant was – With age often comes wisdom. I have no problem with an elderly Pope.
I wonder if he will be subjected to the hostility from the press that Pope Emeritus Benedict faced. Pope Francis is staunchly pro-family (natch), against SSM, fought against liberation theology, has worked for and with poverty stricken folks. This ought to be another fascinating pontificate.
If they didn’t decide, i was hoping father Guido Sarduchi would resurrect the FIND THE POPE IN THE PIZZA
Technically a new pope doesn’t have to be chosen from among the cardinals – he could be anyone who is ordained. And technically members of the Supreme Court don’t have to be lawyers or even from the Ivy League. But there are these traditions, dontcha know….
While I don’t know if he’ll be a good Pope or a bad Pope yet, there’s one thing that got my attention loud and clear and made me an instant fan:
He’s a foe of Liberation Theology.
There’s still more to learn about the new Francis I, and I’m not ready to declare any judgement complete on just one data point. But I am heartened by yet another Pope continuing in the line from John Paul through Benedict XVI in rejecting the unholy (I’m not being sarcastic about that term; I really mean “unholy”) forced-interjection of Marxist revolutionary reactionism into Catholic practice.
I guess you’d have to be Latin American or Filipino to truly grasp how horrific it is to see an honest and humble priest suborned into becoming a guerrilla agitator outside of society and the very flock he’s supposed to serve, but I’ve really got an aversion to the whole notion of Liberation Theology. And it stems from a different place than where either John Paul or Benedict came at it from.
“I note that Bergoglio is an interesting compromise in the diversity sense.”
(Not in criticism of the blog hostess, of course–just the prevailing idea) Yeah, because choosing people for a job according as they tick the requisite “diversity” checkboxes has worked wonders for the American presidency. /sarc
E.M.H.
While I don’t know if he’ll be a good Pope or a bad Pope yet, there’s one thing that got my attention loud and clear and made me an instant fan: He’s a foe of Liberation Theology.
Very important point. Over the decades athe Nobel Prize winner V.S. Naipaul has written a number of perceptive-and controversial- articles about Argentina in the New York Review of Books.
In a 1992 article [Argentina-Living with Cruelty, NYR, January 30,1992] which is unfortunately behind a paywall, Naipaul wrote about an interview he had with a former guerrilla. The former guerrilla talked about radical priests from Accié³n Caté³lica who were counselors at his high school. According to the former guerrilla, “The Montonero guerrillas, the Peronista guerrillas started because of the influence of these priests. One of them was called Father Mujica.He was killed by paramilitary forces in 1974.”
Naipaul remembered that two decades before he had interviewed Padre Mujica at a “villa miseria” [slum] where Father Mujica presided over a church. At the time, Naipaul did not realize that Mujica was “one of the patrons of the guerrillas.” A middle class businessman had presented Mujica as “one of the ‘Priests for the Third World.’ ” [quotes from a photocopy of the 1992 article]
These excerpts from Naupaul’s 1972 NYR article, The Corpse at the Iron Gate, where he interviews Father Mujica, illustrates some of the irrationality behind the Liberation Theology proponents and the Montonero/Peronista guerrillas.
[How could Naipaul, a Trinidadian of East Indian ancestry who spoke English with some combination of Trini/UK accents, could be mistaken for a Norteamericano/American, is beyond my ken. OTOH, my Chilean boss in Trinidad was very pleased when I reported to him that one of our Trini employees told me the Chilean spoke with “a Yank accent”- which to my Yanqui ears he did not.It all depends on your perspective, I guess.]
The government is to be blamed for policies which do not promote economic growth. But economic growth is not as important as “development of the human spirit” as is done in totalitarian societies such as Fidel’s Cuba or Mao’s China. More irrationality follows.
Years before the butchers and torturers of the 1976-83 military government took over, the opponents of the military gave sanction to torture. This shows that the military torturers and butchers were unfortunately not an aberration of Argentine society, but an expression of it.
Had the guerrillas not continued their kidnappings, killings and bombings while Argentina was governed by democratically elected Peronist Presidents [Juan and Isabel/Evita II], the military butchers would never have staged their coup in 1976.
[There were right wing Peronists and left wing Peronists, which explains why left wing Peronists would continue their kidnapping,killings, bank robberies, and bombings under a democratically elected Peronist government.]
From what little I have read, the new Pope has been an opponent of the Kirchners, Nestor and Cristina/Evita III. Bear in mind that the Kirchners- especially Nestor- had former Montoneros in upper level positions in the government.
Following are some NYR/Naipaul links:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1972/oct/19/comprehending-borges/?pagination=false Comprehending Borges
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1972/aug/10/the-corpse-at-the-iron-gate/?pagination=false The Corpse at the Iron Gate
Wretchard has an interesting post up at Belmont Club: Francis
It includes the following:
Very interesting!
It *WILL* be interesting.
It’s my understanding that the Catholic Church has had a problem for decades with Jesuits in South America – so many of them turn into “Marxist firebrands” for whatever reason. Hopefully Francis/ Bergoglio is not among them!
Actually, _any_ Catholic man can be elected as Pope. Of course, if he is not ordained, he will have to be: deacon, priest and bishop. I don’t know if a non-priest was ever elected Pope, but they were sometimes appointed as bishops in those days when monarchs appointed the bishops, which would then be confirmed by the Pope.