POPE

[madsuya]

Wednesday 13th march 2013....white smoke rose from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel and bells rang through St. Peter's Square — the traditional signals that the church's cardinals have chosen a new pope......Jorge Mario Bergoglio 76 yrs of Argentina was elected pope.....who will be called Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, is also the first non-European leader of the church in more than 1,000 years......ever since John Paul II died.....Argentine Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been mooted as a possible successor....d trinisfans hope the new Pope will be as active an involve himself in all the issues like the youth, racism, sexuality, education, right to life, and protect and preserve the church.....
Pope Francis I....

 

[madsuya]

The new leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, Pope Francis, broke several precedents with his election on Wednesday. His choice of the name Francis marks the first time in papal history this name has been used. He is the first Jesuit to head the worldwide RC church and the first from the Americas. Francis is also the first pope born outside Europe in 1,272 years—since Syrian-born St Gregory III, who reigned from 731 to 741.....He was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, to Mario Bergoglio, an immigrant from northern Italy, and Regina Bergoglio, a homemaker. He enrolled in a seminary at 21, was ordained a Jesuit in 1969 and went on to study in Argentina and Germany. He became a bishop in 1992 and Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998......
Conservatives in the church may feel that it needs to represent eternal and timeless values, but the fact is that while human nature may not change, human life does, and many young people feel the message of the church does not speak to the 21st-century reality of their lives. For many other millions, however, the church’s constancy makes it a rock of security and spiritual comfort, a shelter from the storms of stress and uncertainty. Pope Francis, then, is taking on a tough job. His election has been welcomed by church and secular leaders here in T&T who, like the rest of the world, will be looking with interest as the papal legacy of Francis unfolds....

 

[madsuya]

Pope Francis has called for greater dialogue between Christianity and Islam as he prepares for a historic meeting with the emeritus pope, Benedict XVI , the first time a pontiff has met his predecessor in modern times...."It is not possible to build bridges between people while forgetting God," he said. "But the converse is also true: it is not possible to establish true links with God while ignoring other people. Hence, it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam."......