Pope Francis I Elected

At 10:03Z, the Catholic Church announced that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, bishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was elected the new pope.

He is the first pope from the New World, and also the first Jesuit pope.

Do you think he is a good decision for the Catholic Church, and do you feel he is the right man for the job?

Reuters: Argentina's Bergoglio elected Pope
 
I was surprised. Like a lot of people, I expected Scola to become the new Pope. It will be interesting to see what Francis I does in the Vatican. He's said to be close to the poor, but he's not a member of the Liberation Church in Latin America. He said gay people should be respected, but he also said gay marriage was a trick of the Devil. He remained neutral during the dictatorship in Argentina, but the media supporting the Kirchners has also accused him of having denounced other priests to the junta in power.

So I don't know, he seems like a potential moderate, like someone who could go one way or another. But then, he's chosen to be Francis I, which means that he's also starting something new. Will he do the reforms that are expected in the Catholic Church (Bank of the Vatican, New Hierarchy, Modernized Approach, etc)? I don't think so, but he could be a first step. I don't see him as lasting very long, but once again he could surprise us and last for 20 years.

His age could be an asset if he wants to change things. He's a veteran, in a way, which could make it easier for him...

I'm curious to see what the Argentinian government says about this election - they were not on the best of terms with Bergoglio...
 
He's not so crystal clear...

Relations with the Argentine government
Critics have accused him of ignoring the plight of victims during the country’s military dictatorship from 1976–1983, despite victims and their relatives relating first-hand accounts of torture, death and kidnappings to the priests he supervised as the local provincial of the Jesuit Order.[18]
On 15 April 2005, a human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against Bergoglio, as superior in the Society of Jesus of Argentina, accusing him of involvement in the kidnapping by the Navy in May 1976 (during the military dictatorship) of two Jesuit priests.[19] The priests, Orlando Yorio and Franz Jalics, were found alive five months later, drugged and semi-naked. Yorio accused Bergoglio of effectively handing them over to the death squads by declining to tell the regime that he endorsed their work. Jalics refused to discuss it after moving into seclusion in a German monastery.[20] Horacio Verbitsky, an Argentine investigative journalist and author, wrote a book about this and other related events titled El Silencio: de Paulo VI a Bergoglio: las relaciones secretas de la Iglesia con la ESMA.[21] However, after the priests’ imprisonment, Bergoglio worked behind the scenes for their release; his intercession with dictator Jorge Rafael Videla on their behalf may have saved their lives.[22] In 2010, Bergoglio told biographer Sergio Rubin that he often sheltered people from the dictatorship on church property, and on one occasion gave his identity papers to a man who looked like him, to enable the recipient to flee Argentina.[23]


Overall I dislike the Catholic Church quite much, another pope won't change my mind :P
Especially a conservative one.
 
The President of Argentina allegedly said that this Pope will take the Church back to the days of the Inquisition. Then again, I couldn't care less who the pope is. It has little to no effect on my life. My overall response is "meh", hopefully it'll be off TV now.
 
I predict some not exciting 10 years of his reign (spent on fighting with liberalism). If there will be no more scandals :P
 
He is 76. They picked him out of pressure because they didn't know what to do given some of the reports about disagreements in the ranks and Benedict's resignation creating additional scrutiny.

At the end of the day at 76 he isn't going to be around long enough to make any radical changes. He's an outsider in Rome and the Curia will be the ones actually running shit.

They just tried to appeal to as many people as possible given the embarrassment Benedict created. When he dies they are going to have the same issues and problems about actually picking a real leader to give them some long-term direction.

What is more interesting is the protests at the Vatican where people were throwing down and woman were flashing their tits at everybody. If you are looking for the fight to reform the Vatican it isn't coming from anyone up top, it's down there in the streets, tits and all.
 
You're right. Btw the religious fanatics in Poland already called women from Femen as "shameless depraved w*ores" xd
 
Catholics themselves don't know where their Church is going.

Also no women=boring. Catholic/Vatican Government will get more and more boring through time, as long as they are ruled by the Sausage Party.

PS-Argentinians are very funny people when speaking Spanish, it's like they have an italian accent. I think comedians here will profit from that.
 
His record on social justice is relatively OK, but the stuff surrounding the Dirty War, as well as his stances on a variety of social issues, is...not good.

As an atheist, this doesn't really affect me, but it's somewhat cheering as a Brit to see that he and President Kirchner despise one another.

It does strike me as somewhat surprising that they've chosen another very, very old Cardinal as the new Pontiff. And a Jesuit at that.
 
It's quite logical. Not in the case of the Austrian Emperor Charles I after whom there was no other Charles :P
 
tumblr_mjocbtbHsY1s8oz13o1_500.jpg


What a both ridiculous and horrible way of thinking.. :P
 
Meh. Can't exactly expect liberalism from the pope now, can you?

Lets watch the train wreck as it unfolds.
 
But what he thinks is not just a lack of liberalism, it's lack of the sense of basic equality between people. It's the mindset from the Middle Ages/Antiquity.

Exactly, let's watch :P
 
Francis, as we have seen just in his first week of Papacy has been one of the most liberal popes since Pope Paul VI, and probably even before him. He has already broken some of the church traditions, and his pre-papal life shows that he was not your typical Cardinal. He has a moderate ideology, which is rare for any of the Cardinalate, really. I'd say the Catholic Church will see some reforms under Francis, and I am excited to see what's going to happen.
 
Well, that meme is probably fake after all but still shows how some views in the Church are old-fashioned.

Hmmm I will wait and see what pope Francis will say and do. It's only just the beginning. Then after some sufficient time I will judge him.
I think it's fair.
 
It doesn't matter how moderate he is, the Church will keep being a shithole. I won't show any respect for institutions telling people how they should live their lives, threatening them whith condemnation. And the funny fact is not even most of catholic people gives a damn either.

And I know because I live in a catholic country and no one cares: we only baptize, receive first communion and marry in the church... Then a mass when you die and that's about ALL we do as catholics (and just because bride dresses are awesome). In regular masses (I don't even know when they are "celebrated") only a couple of south-american inmigrants (not an important quantity of them) assist. We don't care.
 
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