Tag: new pope

In his first general audience since his election to the papacy, Pope Francis on Wednesday (March 27) urged Catholics to leave their comfort zone to search for  “lost sheep.”

Many Catholics are praising the conclave's decision to elect Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis.

Others aren't so sure.

“He’s the first Jesuit. God bless the church, right?,” said the Rev. Frank Case, the university’s vice president for mission.

Jesuits are known for their commitment to higher education and helping the poor, but the legion of priests also has a reputation for bucking authority.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) As 115 cardinal-electors solemnly processed into the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday afternoon, with a cry of “Extra omnes!” and the latest high-tech jamming devices cutting them off from the world, the buzz outside the Vatican over who would eventually emerge as pope grew deafening.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI promised “unconditional” obedience to his successor during a farewell meeting with cardinals on Thursday (Feb. 28).

“Among you, in the College of Cardinals, there is the future pope, to whom I promise my unconditional reverence and obedience,” he said in the last official act of his pontificate before his resignation becomes effective at 8 p.m. on Thursday.

The next pope will undoubtedly have to wade through a good deal of advice from official advisors as well as commentators across the global Roman Catholic community. He will be chosen on part as well because of his own ideas and his style. As a lay person from a local parish I offer him my own three suggestions and hope that somehow they get to him, not because I am special, but because I am ordinary — the regular lay person in the pew on Sunday mornings.