STORM2K

Argentine Jorge Bergoglio elected pope
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ ... 3-14-10-46

A new pope has been elected and Jorge Bergoglio is from Argentina. Pope Francis.

God Bless the new Pope and I wish him the best. I love the fact that he is from outside of the European mold and he's using a name never used before. Latin America, Mexico and South America has the highest concentration of Catholics, I believe. He has a tough task ahead of him bringing the Catholic Church closer to the 21st century's needs.

I was baptized Catholic and went to class and had my confirmation. I am an ex-Catholic because I am considered damn to hell by the Catholic Church due to divorce, marrying outside of my faith amongst others. I feel the Protestant faiths teach that God is a forgiving God while the Catholic faith does not. Then there's the issue with abuse...

I guess my nostalgia of being baptized Catholic and growing up in believing that the Pope is Holy makes me excited and hopeful when a new one is elected.

I am not Catholic and do not really understand the "need" for the Pope. But I was quickly interested in the fact that he chose Francis as his name. I am presuming that it is after St. Francis of Assisi who was an very humble person who helped the poor and loved animals. As stated hopefully he can bring the Catholic Church into the 21st century and help to "clean up" some of the problems the church has had.

vbhoutex wrote:I am not Catholic and do not really understand the "need" for the Pope. But I was quickly interested in the fact that he chose Francis as his name. I am presuming that it is after St. Francis of Assisi who was an very humble person who helped the poor and loved animals. As stated hopefully he can bring the Catholic Church into the 21st century and help to "clean up" some of the problems the church has had.

It is after St. Francis of Assisi. The more I think about it, the more I like the choice because he is a humble servant and he is known for walking amongst those that lived in the slums outside of Buenos Aires and took the bus around the city. He is very involved in helping those that are less fortunate and oppressed. That has been his mission all along. The Catholic church has been so wrapped up with dictating doctrine and staying the course, that I think that it has lost it's human touch and HOPEFULLY this will mean pedophiles will be kicked out and prosecuted. It's about time that we had someone that would walk amongst the people and show compassion and comfort rather than dictate from above.

I am for gay and women's rights, but any changes by the Catholic church regarding that would probably never happen. I'm a realist. I am just thrilled by this change of direction.

I am not a Catholic either but I do wish him the best. He represents and will be a father figure for over 1+ billion people so god bless him and his reign.

Here are some Pope look-alikes I found funny: