A big burden for Pope Francis

Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina was elected yesterday as the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church and became the first pope in 1.300 years who is not from Europe.

Pope Francis, 76, stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica a little over an hour after white smoke appeared from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, signaling that a new leader of the world's 1,2 billion Roman Catholics had been elected.

The decision on Bergoglio's election was announced by the French Cardinal Jean-Louis Torand with the words in Latin "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam" ("I announce to you great joy. We have a pope.")

Francis became the 226th pontiff in the 2.000-year history of the church at a time of great crisis. Although he is a conservative, he is considered a reformer and was not in the small group of favorites, whose name was circulated before the election. With his election, one of the main assumptions before the election, that the new pope will be relatively young, has been refuted.

Francis is the first non-European pope since Gregory III of Syria in the 8th century, and the third non-Italian pontiff in a row.

Thousands of people braved the rain and strong wind in Vatican Square, waiting to witness history.

The crowd swelled as the Romans arrived in the square, and priests and pilgrims ran to see the new leader.

"Long live the Pope!" they shouted, waiting to hear his name. When they were informed, they began to shout: "Fran-che-sko! Fran-che-sko!”

Then, to the sound of a fanfare, the curtains on the balcony parted and the new pope appeared to bless them - but only after he invited them to pray with him and for him.

The new pope called on "all men and women of good will" to help him lead the church.

Francis, speaking in Italian with a slight Latin American accent, joked with the crowd before the blessing, saying: “As you know, it is the duty of the conclave to appoint a bishop for Rome. It seems that my brother cardinals have gone almost to the end of the world."

He will be officially installed at the inaugural Mass on March 19, the Vatican announced.

Pope Francis will succeed Benedict XVI, who retired last month at the age of 85. The new pope telephoned Benedict and plans to meet with him, a Vatican spokesman said.

No pope has ever chosen the name of St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century reformer who lived in poverty and told his followers, "Always preach the gospel, if necessary use words."

The decision of the 115 cardinals came earlier than many believers and experts expected, because before the vote no clear favorite for the new pope was singled out.

The secret conclave began on Tuesday evening with the first vote in the Renaissance splendor of the Sistine Chapel, and four votes were held yesterday. White smoke signaled that the new pope had won the necessary two-thirds majority on the fifth attempt.

The last four chiefs were elected within two or three days.

During the last nine conclaves, an average of seven votes were required. Benedict was the clear favorite in 2005 and was elected after only four votes.

In preparatory meetings before the conclave, the cardinals were divided between those who believe the new pope must be a good manager to establish control over the bureaucracy and those who are looking for a proven pastoral figure to revitalize their faith across the planet.

The new pope will take on a burden that Benedict said in February was beyond his physical capacity.

In addition to sexual scandals, there were disputes with Muslims and Jews, alleged money laundering in the Vatican bank, and private documents stolen by Benedict's butler exposed corruption and conflicts among high officials. The Church was also shaken by the spread of secularism, especially in its European center.

The wave of crises is believed to have contributed to Benedict's decision to become the first pontiff to abdicate in 600 years.

The former leader of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, attended the conclave despite calls for him to stay away because of the pedophile cover-up case, for which he was banned from all public and administrative duties.

Lawyers for victims of four cases of sexual abuse said on Tuesday that Mahoney and a former priest agreed to a settlement, according to which they will pay almost ten million dollars. Mahoney is accused of helping a pedophile priest avoid prosecution.

The child abuse scandal raises the question not only of why the allegations were not investigated more thoroughly, but also why there was so much abuse.

An internal report in Germany stated that more than 60 priests were involved in more than 500 cases of sexual abuse. All over the world, hundreds of priests have faced such accusations, raising the question of whether it is possible for priests to lead a celibate life.

The new pope will take on a burden that Benedict said in February was beyond his physical capacity

Jozef Ratzinger never hid his opinion that managing the church was too much of a task for one man.

A few days after he was elected in 2005, Pope Benedict spoke as if in shock. At the first public mass, he asked himself: "I must take on this enormous task, which really exceeds all human capacities? How am I going to do that?"

Having broken a six-century tradition and abdicated, the Catholic Church is wondering whether in the era of democracy, television and 24/7 Twitter, the same fate awaits the papacy modeled after the Renaissance monarchy.

The man who leads the largest church in the world must be the spiritual guide of millions, the inspiration of the downtrodden, and the steward of the bickering, dysfunctional Vatican bureaucracy.

"No sane person wants the burden of the papacy," said George Weigel, a prominent Catholic theologian in Washington.

"It is by definition impossible because it requires a man to assume a burden of leadership that no human being can carry in his own strength."

"God's Hand Again"

Argentinians flocked to churches to celebrate the news that one of their own had been elected the first Latin American pope, with many expressing hope that he would bring change to the church.

The people of this mainly Roman Catholic country rushed to churches, while some wept and prayed that Francis would strengthen his faith in the Vatican after a series of scandals.

"I hope that he will change all the luxury that exists in the Vatican, that he will lead the church in a more modest direction, something that is as close to the gospel as possible," said Jorge Andres Lobato, a 73-year-old retired state prosecutor.

"This is a blessing for Argentina," shouted one woman on a street in downtown Buenos Aires.

Few Argentines expected Bergoglio to be elected.

Within minutes, Twitter was awash with the phrase "Hand of God, again," in reference to soccer star Diego Maradona, one of Argentina's most famous, who used the phrase after being accused of scoring a goal against England in the 1986 World Cup with his hand.

Congratulations to the EU and Obama

The presidents of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, and the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, expressed their belief in a joint congratulatory message that Pope Francis will resolutely continue the work of his predecessors and bring the peoples and religions of the world closer together. "We wish you a long and blessed pontificate, which will enable your holiness and the Catholic Church to defend and promote the basic values ​​of peace, solidarity and human dignity. These are essential signposts in a world that is facing numerous challenges and is going through a profound change," stated the congratulations of European officials.

American President Barak Obama sent his congratulations to the new pope and said that the election of Bergolj speaks of the vitality of the increasingly important Latin America.

Obama said of the new pope that he is "a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us."

"As the first pope from the Americas, his election also suggests the strength and vitality of a region that is increasingly shaping our world." Together with millions of Hispanic Americans, we in the United States share in the joy of this historic day," Obama said in a statement.

The Argentinian cardinal was the only competitor to the German Jozef Ratzinger at the 2005 conclave, when he was elected the successor of Pope John Paul II.

The Italian magazine "Limes" announced after the conclave that in the first round Ratzinger received a solid 47 votes and Bergoglio 10, while the rest of the votes were scattered among the other candidates.

The next morning, things were much clearer: Racinger got 65 votes, Bergoglio 35. The Argentine cardinal was mostly supported by moderate German, American and Latin American cardinals.

In the third round of voting, the German cardinal led from 72 to 40, and in the fourth and last round secured an overwhelming 84 votes.

Bergoglio finished with only 26 votes in the last round, which suggested that some supporters of Cardinal Buenos Aires had switched to the side of the German who would later take the name Benedict.

Humble Jesuit, champion of the poor

The choice of Jorge Marija Bergolja represents the choice of modesty, a Jesuit intellectual who travels by bus and has a practical approach to the problem of poverty. When he was appointed cardinal, Bergoglio convinced hundreds of Argentines not to travel to Rome for the celebration, but to give the money they intended for plane tickets to the poor. This champion of liberal theology is seen as a candidate respected by all in the upper echelons of the church, despite being seen by many as too much of a challenge for conservatives in the Vatican. It owes a lot to his modesty:

He gave up a grandiose cardinal's residence in the Argentine capital in exchange for a small apartment and opted for public transport despite being entitled to a chauffeur. Bergoglio was born in December 1936 to a seven-member family of an Italian railway worker and a housewife mother. He studied literature and psychology in Argentina before turning to the ministry in 1969. John Paul II appointed him a cardinal on February 21, 2001. Unlike other cardinals, his name has not been involved in any of the scandals currently rocking the Catholic Church, and it is believed that his priority is to reform the Curia - the central Vatican administration. The author of Bergoglio's biography describes him as a force of balance.

"He is a moderate in every way," Francesca Ambroghetti, who is one of the authors of the Bergoglio biography, told Reuters.

"He is a moderate in every way," Francesca Ambroghetti, who is one of the authors of the Bergoglio biography, told Reuters.

The first Latin American pope is a moderate known for his strong negotiating skills, but also his willingness to question the interests of the powerful. "He shares the view that the church should have a missionary role, that it should be active and meet with people... A church that is less focused on dictating religion and more on its promotion and advancement," she added.

The new pope is considered an ecumenist, as he believes in dialogue between faiths. He is concerned about widespread social inequality in his homeland and throughout Latin America. Bergoglio made headlines in the Argentine press in 2009 for criticizing Ernesto Kirchner, the husband of current president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, saying it was "immoral, illegitimate and unjust" that inequality was still growing in the country.

"Instead of preventing it, it seems as if they have chosen to highlight the inequalities even more," he said.

"For the violation of human rights, not only terrorism, repression and liquidations are responsible, but also unfair economic structures that create great inequalities," he said then.

Questions about the role during the military dictatorship

Bergoglio worked to repair the reputation of a church that had lost many followers because it did not openly oppose the murderous Argentine dictatorship of 1976-83. He also worked to restore the church's traditional political influence on society, but his criticisms did not prevent President Kristina Kirchner from introducing socially liberal measures that are anathema to the church, from gay marriage and adoption to free contraception for all. Bergoglio almost never gave interviews to the media and shied away from responding to critics, even when he knew their accusations were untrue.

Human rights activists tried to get him to answer uncomfortable questions about what church officials knew and did about abuses by the dictatorship after a coup in 1976. Many in Argentina remain angry that the church admitted it did not openly oppose the regime. who kidnapped and killed thousands of people, trying to eliminate "subversive elements" in society. This is one of the reasons why more than two-thirds of Argentines identify as Catholic, and less than 10 percent regularly attend mass.

During Bergoglio's leadership, Argentina's bishops issued a collective apology in October 2012 for the church's failure to protect its community. However, in the statement, the junta and its enemies were almost equally blamed for the violence from that era. "Bergoglio was very critical of human rights violations, but he always criticized left-wing guerrillas; he doesn't forget that side," said Bergoglio's biographer Sergio Rubin.

The most famous episode from the time of the dictatorship, which Bergoglio is associated with, refers to the kidnapping of two Jesuits who were secretly imprisoned by the military government for their activities in poor neighborhoods. According to the book "Silence" written by journalist Horacio Verbicki, Bergoglio stopped protecting the two Jesuits because they did not want to stop visiting the poor, which paved the way for their arrest. The book is based on the statements of Orlando Jorio, one of the kidnapped Jesuits, who died of natural causes in 2000.

Both kidnapped priests survived the five-month captivity. "History condemns him. It shows that he is an opponent of innovations in the church and above all, that during the dictatorship he was close to the army," Fortunato Malimaći, former dean of the University of Buenos Aires, once said.

Those who defend Bergolj say that there is no evidence for these claims and that, on the contrary, he helped dissidents escape from prison during the rule of the military junta.

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