I'm in love!

Yes it has only been one day since I laid eyes on him and vicariously met him, but I am smitten. My spirit joins with millions of others who are rejoicing today, thanking God for our new pope, Pope Francis, and thanking the Holy Spirit for guiding the cardinals to choose him.

 

From Catholic Memes.
How can you not love this man?!

Why am I so in love? “Let me count the ways…” Where do I begin? Let’s start with my first impressions from his greeting on the balcony. His body language, to me, spoke many words. He seems somewhat shy, introverted, perhaps a little socially awkward, deeply humble, and one who doesn’t want to be the center of attention. I, myself, identify with many of these traits (although, Christ-like humility is a life-long learning process..). In being able to identify myself with him, I cannot imagine how truly uncomfortable and terrifying it would be to overlook a crowd of over 150,000 people who are all there to see you and only you. Not only that, but hundreds (thousands?) of video cameras were there to transmit your greeting all over the world. You know your face was going to be on the front of every major newspaper, TV and radio broadcast, and social media page around the globe. I can’t imagine the kind of courage it takes to face such a challenge, but these words ring louder to me than ever before: “I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.” In his greeting, I saw the perfect embodiment of this Bible verse. Speaking of Christ and Pope Francis’ body language--his shirking humility also screamed to me, “Please don’t glorify me. Glorify Jesus! Don’t look to me. Please look to Jesus!” As John the Baptist put it simply, “He must increase; I must decrease.”

 

Second, I was deeply moved by his simple greeting, and the common theme through his entire greeting: prayer. He first asked us all to pray with him for Pope Emeritus Benedict with an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. Then he asked us to always pray for each other, and for brotherhood throughout the whole world. Before he blessed his adoring crowd, he asked them to first bless him. As he bowed, he asked for all to pray silently for him, and you could certainly hear a pin drop as an enormous crowd suddenly and simultaneously bowed their heads as silent voices lifted up to Heaven, and undoubtedly, graces fell back down to earth. Then he gave us all his blessing and bid us farewell. Prayer, prayer, prayer. This man is certainly tuned in to communication with Heaven.


Next, I’m in love with his bold choice of a papal name: Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi. A simple, poor, humble servant, but one who was fearlessly on fire with love for the Gospel. There is so much symbolism and potential for the future that we can speculate from what we know about St. Francis. We know that when St. Francis was praying one day, he heard God say, “Francis, rebuild my Church.” While I prefer the optimistic side of life, because God is Hope and my hope is in Him, I can’t deny the fact that there are flaws in His Church. Afterall, it is an organization run by flawed, sinful humans. But we have a Church that needs fixings, from the Curia to the invasion of secularism, and everything in-between. Maybe Pope Francis heard this call. There is also a quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, where he said, “Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.” Even researching just a little bit of Jorge Bergoglio’s life, you would assume that this is essentially his life motto. He is a true, humble servant of Christ, who truly believes that he is not more important than anyone else. You can’t really say enough about him. Finally, in relation to St. Francis of Assisi, who is typically depicted with a bird, the Sistine seagull may or may not have been a coincidence (or “God-incidence)… Who knows.

 

Finally, I am in love with the effect he has on people. Just like a warm, sunny, early spring day can bring out the best spirits in people, so too does Pope Francis seem to bring about a softened heart in others. I typically dread reading Catholic news on secular media websites because they usually have said something wrong. I dread even more when I scroll to the bottom and read the comments from anonymous people with inflated “keyboard courage.” I have read some of the most hateful, evil, and vile things about the Catholic Church from these comment boxes. So today, I held my breath as I looked through these comments, but I was completely taken aback by what I saw. Comment after comment seemed to say something like, “I’m not a Catholic, but I really like this guy and I wish him the best.”--WHAT?! Are these even the same people?! My heart swelled as I read through many, similar comments of just simple, kind words for our new Holy Father from people on “the outside.” Pope Francis, in his Christ-like humility, pure love, and his proof that he can “walk the walk” instead of just “talk the talk” seems to be a breath of fresh air in this world that is hostile to Christianity, and especially Catholicism. It seems as though the Holy Spirit has truly chosen a Supreme Pontiff, or literally, a Supreme Bridge-Builder. My hopes are so high. The more I learn about him, the more excited I get. I pledge my full obedience to him.
“Francis, rebuild my Church.”

 

I’m in love.



To learn more about him, check out some of the standing facts about Pope Francis, as well as blogs and news bits that trickle in daily from New Advent.

HABEMUS PAPAM!

WHAT a day! What an emotional roller coaster of a day! I am SO blessed and joyful to be Catholic!

Today's second round of votes in Rome time actually came over my lunch break. I had a live, streaming video of the chimney at the Sistine Chapel on the corner of my computer screen--you know, just in case. It was only the second day of the Conclave so I did not expect to see the white smoke today. I was, however, oddly entertained by the world's [now] most famous bird.

But then shortly after, as I was in the middle of work and lunch, I saw it. I saw the white smoke! I think my jaw slapped the floor and I was in some sort of time-is-standing-still disbelief. But it kept coming out white and my soul leaped with joy!! "HABEMUS PAPAM!" We have a pope!!

Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth;

break into song; sing praise.

Sing praise to the LORD with the lyre,

with the lyre and melodious song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn

shout with joy to the King, the LORD.

Psalm 98:4-6

 

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior

Luke 1:46-47

 

The bells tolled with exuberant joy! The growing crowd of well over 100,000 people was alive and I could feel their energy! All eyes turned from the billowing white smoke to the balcony where the new pope would be presented to us. We waited about an hour in anxious anticipation to see our next Holy Father, the next Peter, our next shepherd.

 

Pope Francis! Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina! A Latin American pope and the first ever from the western world! The first Francis pope! The first Jesuit pope! This is just too unreal.

He seemed to be off the radar from most sources I have been reading for the last month; so honestly, this was the first that I was hearing about him. And as he stepped onto that balcony and looked at the enormous, adoring crowd, he actually looked a bit like a deer in headlights. For a moment, his facial expression read, "What have I just gotten myself into?" I imagined him in the Room of Tears, dressing for his appearance, just in total shock. Yesterday he was just an Archbishop in Buenos Aires, ready to get back home. Today, he is the Vicar of Christ. The successor to St. Peter. The visible head of the Church, which is the bride of Christ. He is now the leader of an entire country, Vatican City. He is the shepherd to over 1.2 billion Catholics. He is an extremely humble man and now the whole world is looking to him. Deer in headlights look?--You betcha.

 

 

I have been extremely struck by the heavy media coverage of the papal resignation and Conclave. Why all of a sudden, does the liberal, secular media want to talk only about the Catholic Church? Sure, too many of their articles and news bits had that secular slant, continuing to negatively shape opinions on our beautiful Church and spreading lies. Perhaps it is the work of Satan, always looking to attack that which threatens him the most. What could possibly threaten him more than Christ's One, True Church? The one that Jesus Himself founded, and continually offers Himself in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and promised to protect to the end of time? Of course the Evil One will do all he can to take Her down... but in a way, and which is usually the case, I think his plan backfired. All eyes, all around the entire world, were on the Vatican today. All ears were turned to the Catholic Church. Even if most people live their lives as if God didn't exist, and either ignore or forget about Him every single day, today they couldn't avoid it. The news was everywhere, and God's Hands were all over this. Many of them probably hardened their hearts and will go about their business tomorrow--but maybe some listened. Maybe some heard. Maybe some were captivated by the Church's ancient traditions, or by the pure joy from the crowd, or by this institution that seemed to be "not of this world." Maybe some started to realize why the Catholic Church has stood strong for 2,000 years, or that the visible, physical world is completely related to the invisible, spiritual world. (The visible sign of white smoke represented the Holy Spirit's guidance and the cardinals' cooperation with Him.)

The Catholic Church will never get its due recognition from the rest of the world--and that is okay, because Jesus told us that that would happen. There certainly will always be people who will never understand the beauty of our faith which knows no boundaries. But none of this ever discourages me. Nothing is more important to me in my life than my Catholic faith. Some days I feel like I could just burst with childlike joy just because I am Catholic. The Holy Spirit has lit my soul on fire and I am falling deeply in love with Him! The Church is getting stronger and signs of life are everywhere. 

And of course, she will continue to grow and strengthen evermore, with our new Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis! God bless the pope!

 



Living in History: Pope Benedict XVI to resign

 

Pope Benedict XVI announced this morning, February 11, that he would renounce his position as the Bishop of Rome, effective February 28. His announcement both shocked and saddened me. I have only known two popes my whole life. Anyone who was born after 1978 also has only known two popes, and I dearly love them both. But his resignation was also a shock because the last pope to resign his position was with Pope Gregory XII in 1415--that's almost 600 years ago!

I deeply admire Pope Benedict's humility and grace to step down as Vicar of Christ. In a world and a culture that is so focused on success and "me-me-me," his choice must be difficult to understand. But he understands the difficult times that the Church is facing, where hostility and intolerance of Christianity is strong. He understands that the world is evolving and modernizing quicker than we can blink. He understands that the Church needs a strong mind and body to shepherd over one billion Catholics, and he has accepted that he can no longer fill such large shoes. (Read his full statement here.) God bless the Holy Papa for such humility and selfless wisdom! My admiration for him has only grown stronger.

His announcement shouldn't be a total surprise. In 2010, Pope Benedict told a German journalist that "if a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling the duties of office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign." He is a man true to his word. Also in a world where hindsight is 20/20, the pope also dropped a very subtle hint that went under the radar. In April of 2009, the Holy Father visited the tomb of Pope St. Celestine V (1215-1296) in Aquila, Italy. After praying at the tomb, he left his pallium (the symbol of his papal authority, pictured left) on top of St. Celestine's tomb. St. Celestine was elected shortly before his 80th birthday (Pope Benedict was 78 when he was elected in 2005), and was one of those few popes who resigned from the pontificate.

In such a weird transition time, we must not stop praying for our Holy Father, but rather, increase our prayers for him and for his successor. We must pray for those cardinals who will go to conclave soon, for the complete guidance of and trust in the Holy Spirit, who has guided our Church for 2000 years.

"Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Jesus: "Do not let your hearts be troubled." John 14:1

 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

 

And of course we should not have any reason to be concerned about the future of the Church (the bride of Christ) and the successor to Peter, because Jesus said:
 

"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven." Matthew 16:18-19

 
There's really no need to worry or go on speculating about who the next successor to the throne of Peter might be. It is not for us to decide who we think is "right" for the Church or "wrong" for the Church at this time. God, in His infinite wisdom, is the only One to know. Whatever will be, will be. God's will be done, and the Holy Spirit will guide His bishops to the right leader.

So for now, let's remain the pope's faithful flock, steeped in prayer, and strong in faith.

 

Additional reading about the Supreme Pontiff:


From the Catholic Church's Facebook page:

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16:18, Jesus says to Peter “and so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Among Jesus’ twelve apostles, Peter is given a unique mission to preserve the purity and sanctity of the Holy Church, and lead his fellow brothers and sisters in the one true faith. In like manner, Jesus endowed the other apostles with the authority of bishops, with Peter as their head. In this way, they formed a “college”, or stable group dedicated to teaching, and defending the faith. Just as Peter and his fellow apostles together formed an apostolic college, so too does the pope, successor of Peter, and bishop of Rome, along with the other bishops, form an episcopal college, dedicated to instructing and preserving the faith. Since the Church was intended to endure through the ages, until the return of Jesus, succession was necessary in order for this to be fulfilled. In fact, there has been an unbroken succession of popes from Peter to Benedict XV1, the 265th successor.

Peter, along with succeeding Popes and bishops were and are given the authority to govern the Church, make doctrinal judgments, and implement definitive teachings regarding faith and morals. However, the Teaching office of the Church may be exercised by the Pope alone when he teaches officially, or by the whole “college” of bishops together with the Pope. It must be stated however, that the Pope is not infallible on all matters. The word “infallible” does not mean that the Pope is perfect. It also does not mean that the Pope knows everything. Instead, “infallibility” only applies when the Pope speaks about solemn, official teachings on faith and morals. This does not happen very often and usually is in response to a doctrine that has been called into question. This teaching is based on the promise Christ gave to His Church in John 16:13 that the Holy Spirit would “guide you to all truth.” However, on the occasion that the Church declares a particular matter as infallible, this means it is something believed to be revealed by Jesus Christ and is without the possibility of error. When a particular matter is declared infallible, Catholics are obliged to adhere in the spirit of obedience. In the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, the nature of infallibility is explained:

“Bishops who teach in communion with the Roman Pontiff are to be revered by all as witnesses of divine and Catholic truth; the faithful, for their part, are obliged to submit to their bishops’ decision, made in the name of Christ, in matters of faith and morals, and to adhere to it with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind.” (Lumen Gentium, 25)

The primacy of the Pope, and the recognition of the universal authority he has been given to instruct the faithful, sustains and safeguards the unity of the Church as the communicator of truth. It has been said that the Pope is the servant of the servants of God. That is to say, the Pope’s primary mission is one of service to the people of God, to uphold the oneness of Christ’s Church.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

880 When Christ instituted the Twelve, "he constituted [them] in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them." Just as "by the Lord's institution, St. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a single apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another."

881 The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head." This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.

 

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."

 

895 "The power which they exercise personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary, and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church." But the bishops should not be thought of as vicars of the Pope. His ordinary and immediate authority over the whole Church does not annul, but on the contrary confirms and defends that of the bishops. Their authority must be exercised in communion with the whole Church under the guidance of the Pope.

 

869 The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation: "the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Rev 21:14). She is indestructible (cf. Mt 16:18). She is upheld infallibly in the truth: Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops.

 

891 "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith." This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.

936 The Lord made St. Peter the visible foundation of his Church. He entrusted the keys of the Church to him. The bishop of the Church of Rome, successor to St. Peter, is "head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ and Pastor of the universal Church on earth" (CIC, can. 331).

 

 

 

 

From the Code of Canon Law:
 

Can. 330 Just as by the Lord’s decision Saint Peter and the other Apostles constitute one college, so in a like manner the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and the bishops, the successors of the Apostles, are united among themselves.

 

Can. 331 The bishop of the Roman Church, in whom continues the office given by the Lord uniquely to Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to be transmitted to his successors, is the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on earth. By virtue of his office he possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely.

 

Can. 333 §2. In fulfilling the office of supreme pastor of the Church, the Roman Pontiff is always joined in communion with the other bishops and with the universal Church. He nevertheless has the right, according to the needs of the Church, to determine the manner, whether personal or collegial, of exercising this office.

 

Can. 334 Bishops assist the Roman Pontiff in exercising his office. They are able to render him cooperative assistance in various ways, among which is the synod of bishops. The cardinals also assist him, as do other persons and various institutes according to the needs of the times. In his name and by his authority, all these persons and institutes fulfill the function entrusted to them for the good of all the churches, according to the norms defined by law.

 

Can. 335 When the Roman See is vacant or entirely impeded, nothing is to be altered in the governance of the universal Church; the special laws issued for these circumstances, however, are to be observed.