Morality is no longer black and white

People for and against same-sex marriage
demonstrate outside Supreme Court building
as justices hear arguments in case against
California's same-sex marriage ban
CNS photo

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments on California's Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. In anticipation of these historic cases, CBS News conducted a poll of current public opinion concerning same-sex marriage.

The main result from the poll is that 53 percent of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal, while 39 percent are opposed. This is a significant change from May 2012, when 51 percent were opposed to same-sex marriage. And, notably, 33 percent of those who now support same-sex marriage used to hold the opposite view.

The deciding factor in these changing views? CBS News points to several, including "being more tolerant" and "more educated" as well considering it "the modern way of thinking." The biggest factor (20 percent) was knowing a member of the gay community personally.

The Catholic Church is a dependable guide for approaching hard issues like this. She is gentle and respectful of all people, but firm and unwavering in guarding the truth. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a great resource; paragraphs 2357-2359 speak about homosexuality.

Other recommended resources include:

• "How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice" by Austen Ivereigh, Chapter 2: Homosexuality and Contraception
• "Rebuttals to arguments for same-sex marriage," by Brandon Vogt in OSV Newsweekly

Jennifer Rey is the web editor of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing.

Do you like Pope Francis?

Pope Francis greets crowd after
celebrating Palm Sunday Mass
CNS photo

According to a poll released last week by the Pew Research Center, 73 percent of U.S. Catholics were either “happy” or “very happy” with Pope Francis. And, only 2 percent were “unhappy” (24 percent said they had not heard enough to make a decision).

But does behavior follow from that? Let’s take it a step further. Our approval and admiration for Pope Francis becomes significant if we turn it into action and follow his example. His life is one of humility, gentle love, service, simplicity and faithfulness to the Church.

And his example is our challenge.

How can we serve the Church?

From prayer and sacrifice to ministries and outreach, there are so many ways that we can serve the Church and one another. Please share your ideas!

Jennifer Rey is the web editor of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing.

Steubenville case unfortunate result of secular culture

The blame game is in full force regarding the sad story of a 16-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted in Steubenville, Ohio, last summer by two high school football players. The young men were found guilty by a juvenile court in Steubenville March 10, but the court of public opinion is still weighing in.

Many blame the girl for excessive drinking. Others are calling out other football players who saw it happening and did nothing. This week, a CNN opinion piece asks why the girl’s friends did nothing — and even in some cases testified against her.

The main focus of Rachel Simmons’ piece is the “mean girl” culture, but there is one point that I wish she had expanded on:

“From the earliest age, girls are flooded with conflicting messages about their sexuality. They are socialized to be ‘good girls’ above all: kind, polite and selfless. Yet they are also told — via media images, the clothing that’s marketed to them and the messages conveyed by some adults — that they will be valued, given attention and loved for being sexy. The result is a near-constant anxiety about not being feminine or sexy enough.”

This thinking pervades our entire culture. Sexual promiscuity is found in movies, TV shows, music and books. And yet, we are shocked when something like this happens.

Simmons concludes that we need to “teach children from an early age about gender-based violence.” Maybe we do. But why not teach them about human dignity? What about respect, for ourselves and for other people? What about the beauty of women, men and of their physical union as it was meant by God? What if we listened to the Church instead of the world?

Jennifer Rey is the web editor of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing.

Erlandson: Final memories of Rome

By Greg Erlandson

With the Mass of the Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry in St. Peter’s Square on March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, the period marking the resignation of one pope and the election of another drew to a close. Before I close up my laptop, however, I want to record a few of the events that didn't make it into other blogs — my lasting memories of these days.

Social media reigned supreme

It was a privilege to be able to report on these events for Our Sunday Visitor on Twitter and by blog as well as in the OSV Newsweekly. In some ways Twitter was my running diary of the events as they took place. The only problem was that whenever two or three (hundred thousand) were gathered in Francis's name, Twitter ground to a halt around St. Peter’s Square.

Eight years ago was an election that was marked by blogging and of course cell phone calls. Once the white smoke was seen on April 19, cell contact collapsed quickly as everyone attempted to call friends, family ("Ciao, mamma. C'e' la fumata bianca!") and newsrooms.

This election was the first in which social media reigned supreme. While Twitter was of functional value when events were slow, at those peak moments — such as the appearance of smoke — the only really strong Twitter feeds were coming from people who were some distance away and watching events on television.

That said, the stream of information on Twitter was amazing. Catholic News Service's Rome Bureau, for one, did an excellent job of virtually translating press conferences and talks on the fly and tweeting highlights as they happened. Videos and photos were posted to Facebook and Twitter as quickly as the data networks would allow, and moments that flashed by on a television screen could now be repackaged as a tweet and saved for posterity.

Lest anyone think that social media got too serious with this election, it should be noted that Twitter handles were created immediately for the Sistine Chapel's makeshift chimney (@PapalSmokeStack) on Tuesday and, on Wednesday, for the rather brazen seagull (@ConclaveSeagull) who perched on top of the chimney while the square waited in breathless anticipation to find out if he would be transformed into a crow, should the smoke be black.

Italian television

One moment of note on Italian television came when journalists were scrambling to fill time between the white smoke and the appearance on the balcony of the new pope. While other Italian journalists were opining hopefully that the new pope would be the Italian Angelo Scola, Alessandro Banfi said he didn't know who the new pope would be, but that his name would be Francis. He was right, of course.

How was the smoke?

Speaking of smoke, that was an obsession of sorts after the greyish muck that had been released to mark the election of Benedict. The Vatican had clearly invested in smoke improvement, using chemicals rather than just ballots and hay to make darn sure that black was black and white was white. Indeed, after the only vote in the early evening of Tuesday, March 12, the smoke poured forth with such abundant blackness that it looked a bit like the dementors from Harry Potter were scrambling out of the chimney.

After the election of the pope, U.S. journalists trooped up to the Pontifical North American College (NAC), the U.S. seminary in Rome that looms above the Vatican, hoping for a press conference with the U.S. cardinal electors. Cardinal Timothy Dolan finally obliged to hold one for the national press, but he asked the first question: "How was the smoke?"

Under a pink umbrella

The day of the election had not been a sterling one for me. I had lost rosaries, a map, a guidebook and an umbrella at some point during all the rushing from square to media center and back. As the rain came down one more time, I bought an umbrella from a street vendor so I could stay dry in the square. It was only after I had walked on with my over-priced purchase that I realized it was pink.

In what was another stroke of spectacularly bad timing, my phone died while I was waiting for the new pope to be announced. Four hours in the square, of which about three-and-a-half were in the rain under my pink umbrella, had left me cold, hungry, tired and incommunicado. Along with others, I dutifully trooped up to the NAC in hopes of an interview, but first I had to charge my phone.

In search of an outlet, I ended up in the laundry room, near piles of dirty clerical clothes waiting to be washed, sitting on the floor near an outlet and talking with first my wife and then a journalist back home who was interviewing me. It was not as I dreamed it would be, but I was able to get the phone charged up enough to at least function.

Food and cheers

My second priority after a battery charge was food. For this I am grateful to Tod Tamberg, the spokesman for the L.A. Archdiocese. He had already been at the NAC for a few weeks and knew his way around the building. He led me to the seminary dining hall. The only food available was dry cereal and milk, which was how we found ourselves feasting on Froot Loops at 10 p.m. After nine hours without food, never had cereal tasted so good.

One more great memory from that night involved the seminarians themselves. Excited about the election of the new pope (even though few people really knew who he was), they welcomed back their cardinal champions with cheers, clapping and applause. It was a boisterous moment that Cardinal Dolan, for one, clearly enjoyed as he accepted their congratulations and shook their hands.

A different kind of pope

Events after the night of Pope Francis' election tumble together: His trip to St. Mary Major and then going to Casa del Clero to pay his bill cemented his reputation as a different kind of pope. Then he met with the journalists in a scheduled audience that was both moving and groundbreaking. He explained why he chose his name, he petted a Seeing Eye dog and, out of respect for non-believers in the audience — an assumption that suggests what he may think about many journalists — he did not extend a spoken apostolic blessing to them. This was tremendously disappointing to some of the Catholic journalists, but I never heard if it made any of the non-believers feel any better.

A pope of the people

The next day was his visit to his parish church, St. Anne's, which is near the famous Porta S. Anna, the gate that many tourists wander into by mistake to the right of St. Peter's Square. Not only did this underscore Pope Francis' presentation of himself as a pastor, but it thrilled the Italians — both those who attend this rather small church and those waiting behind barriers to catch a glimpse of him.

When he finished shaking hands with each parishioner, and then walked over to shake the hands of those behind the barriers, he must have given his security detail a heart attack. But the Italians themselves were ecstatic. "He is one of us, a pope of the people," one said.

What followed was the largest crowd I had ever been stuck smack dab in the middle of: 150,000 people (give or take) to hear his first Angelus address. I was within 75 yards of the outskirts of St. Peter’s Square when I found myself absolutely imprisoned by the press of bodies. It was a claustrophobe's nightmare. I could not see the pope. I could barely hear the pope. Yet somehow it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience because of the festive mood of the crowd that was clearly excited by their pontiff.

Genuine, moving

The Mass of Inauguration personally was memorable for two reasons. The first was when the pope stopped his jeep tour of the square before the Mass to embrace a man who was seriously handicapped, perhaps paralyzed. When Pope Francis descended from his vehicle and touched and embraced the man, I thought it confirmed all the reports we had received of his washing of the feet of AIDS victims and drug addicts. Indeed, I thought immediately of St. Francis embracing the leper. The pope's actions seemed genuine, particularly because he did not simply bless him, but embraced him.

Moving also was the fact that I was able to be in the square itself for Communion.

Eight years ago I had been up on the colonnade looking down on the Mass of Pope Benedict. It was a bird's-eye view, literally. This time, after getting to the media center at 6:30 a.m., I was able to close up my computer and go out to the square itself. I did not expect to find it so moving to receive Communion, but it was. Perhaps it was simply that I had thwarted the odds of not being able to receive at all. But at that moment, surrounded by priests and nuns and lay people, celebrating the start of a new pontificate, I felt in communion. It was a Catholic moment, one of many I won’t forget from this experience.

Shaw: Taking a wait-and-see approach

By Russell Shaw

The surprising election of Pope Francis plainly was no surprise to the people who really counted: the cardinals, that is, who swiftly chose him on the first full day and fifth ballot of the conclave. While not a speed record, the timing showed the electors had no difficulty agreeing that the archbishop of Buenos Aires was the man for the job.

Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter's Square
for his inaugural Mass
CNS photo

Here was a grievous blow to punditry. In retrospect, it should have been obvious that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a top contender in the conclave of 2005, might well be chosen Pope Benedict XVI's successor. Although some thought that at 76 his age was against him, many cardinals are men in their 70s who may not see the age question quite that way.

Despite the favorable omens, though, Pope Francis showed up on few pre-conclave pundit lists. The best explanation is that journalist don't think like cardinals – and vice versa, of course. This arguably is a good thing for both groups.

Now that he's been elected, what will Pope Francis do? We are told he will be a "pope of the poor." No doubt, but what does that mean?

That he's a man of simple lifestyle will continue to be the case. Furthermore, every pope since at least Blessed John XXIII has actively championed the cause of the oppressed, and Pope Francis will be no exception.

Will he criticize the libertarian economics of the capitalist West, including the United States, as Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI all did? And if he does, will Americans who've been saying "Isn't that nice?" about his lifestyle shut their ears to his message? How many will adopt a simple lifestyle themselves?

Anyone's guess

Blessed John Paul II did pope-watchers a favor by setting out the agenda of his pontificate in considerable detail in his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis ("Redeemer of Man"), which appeared in March 1979 only five months after his election the previous October, and which he thereafter largely followed. Absent something like that from Pope Francis, it will be best to leave punditry aside for a while and simply watch what our new pope says – and, especially, does.

Personnel choices will be of prime importance in the early going. Beyond the staffing of his own household, the first and most important of these is likely to be for the position of Secretary of State, the Vatican official with the crucial task of overseeing the operations of the Roman Curia.

It would come as a great surprise if Pope Francis chose to retain Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in the job. But will he step outside curial ranks to find a successor – and if so, who will it be? Whoever it is, the choice will have a powerful impact upon the much-discussed issue of Curia reform.

No less an open question is what approach Francis will take to the Society of Jesus. The election of the first Jesuit pope was greeted with consternation by some conservatives who view Jesuits with alarm. But it's entirely possible that as a Jesuit himself, Pope Francis will have a better understanding of conditions in the Society than an outsider would have and will be better able to address the situation. Here, too, we can only wait and see what he does.

The current honeymoon phase will pass quickly. The pope's opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion will bring criticism from gay rights and pro-choice groups, and the media will line up with them. To belabor the obvious: The story of this pontificate has just begun.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Ivereigh in Rome: Packing up in the new dawn

By Austen Ivereigh

We were told to expect a crowd of 1 million, but in the end – it was a working day, after all – only 200,000 faithful turned up; we were told to expect off-the-cuff additions to the homily, but in the end he stuck to the script. Pope Francis' inaugural Mass was a reminder that, the new papal style notwithstanding, you can't really improve on one of the most beautiful and solemn liturgies in the Vatican calendar.

The Mass marking the official start of Pope Francis' papacy Tuesday morning was flawless, beautiful, and it let the symbols do the talking. It took place under the kind of blue skies and warm sun of which just yesterday, drenched and buffeted by the winds, we could only dream. (The weather has been a significant piece of the celestial choreography of this past week, switching from stormy, freezing and torrential to balmy, calm and sunny, often in the same day. In some ways it was supportive of the new pope's public appearances: It stopped raining, for example, when Francis appeared on the balcony of the loggia; the sun broke out on Sunday for the Angelus and again today for the Mass.)

People watch the inaugural Mass of Pope
Francis on giant screen next to the
Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires
CNS photo

The journalists have mostly filed their stories and are packing up or recording their impressions of the morning. I have done my last round of interviews – BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera – before flying home, and I've found, in my interviewers, a new tone. You don't need to be Catholic to see the renewal happening. But explaining it is difficult.

It's not "modernization" or "liberalization" – it's a return to the essence of the Petrine ministry. You can recognize that these are Pentecostal days, a fresh blowing of the Spirit, without in any way reflecting poorly on Benedict XVI's papacy. Pope Francis, we now might say, is the answer to the question of why Benedict XVI felt called to resign.

Oddly, what I most loved about today was the message Pope Francis sent, by phone call, to the people gathered in his former cathedral of Buenos Aires. Having spent a lot of time in Argentina at one time in my life, I can recognize at once the "gaucho" tone and style. He tells them, for example, to refrain from criticizing each other, telling them: no le saquen el cuero a nadie, "don’t flay anyone." It's a touching call for them to love and care for each other, from a bishop who, though now far from them, is thinking of them. His message was expressed in language of great directness and tenderness, as you would speak to a member of your family. And it begins, as so many Argentine sentences do, with the words: "I want to ask you a favor."

In an interview the other day I found myself quoting from a Paul Simon song: "these are days of miracle and wonder." The Church's astonishing capacity to renew itself, to break into a new dawn just when the weight of the challenges, internal and external, seemed so daunting, has been on dramatic display these past two weeks.

Catholics are fond of saying that the Church cannot fail – it is "indefectible" – because the Holy Spirit animates it. What that means, in practice, is what we've seen here in these late winter days in Rome: Very occasionally there comes a chance to start again, with new energy, new hope, new possibility.

And I was thrilled to be part of it – watching it unfurl, commenting on it, interpreting it – on the platform Our Sunday Visitor kindly offered me. Thank you for reading.

Austen Ivereigh, who has bloged for us from Rome on the papal transition, is a British Catholic journalist, commentator and director of Catholic Voices (www.catholicvoices.org.uk). A former communications director to the Archbishop emeritus of Westminster (England), Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, he accompanied the cardinal to Rome in 2005 for the funeral of Pope John Paul II and election of Pope Benedict XVI. He is the author of "How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice" (OSV, $13.95).

UPDATE! Game show religious sisters win first round, advance to semi-finals on 'The American Bible Challenge'

Sister Evangeline and Sister Maria Suso high five on
"The American Bible Challenge" game show

On the premiere of the second season of the game show "The American Bible Challenge" on Thursday, three sisters from the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, from Ann Arbor, Mich., won $20,000 for charity and advanced to the semi-final round. They will have the chance to win $100,000.

Through trivia and other challenges, Sisters Evangeline, Maria Suso and Peter Joseph will continue putting their Scripture knowledge to the test as they compete against the remaining teams, including Christian bikers, NFL football players, rabbis and more. The Dominican Sisters – or "Team Sisters of Mary" – will use their winnings to assist in the retirement of elderly Dominican sisters. After five more preliminary rounds with the other teams, Team Sisters of Mary will return to compete in two semi-finals rounds and, if they win, the final round.

"The American Bible Challenge" is hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy and features musician and producer Kirk Franklin as musical co-host. For more information, visit gsntv.com. You can even test your Scripture knowledge with The American Bible Challenge Game. The show is televised on Game Show Network Thursdays at 9 p.m.

About the Dominican Sisters

Through vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, along with a contemplative emphasis on Eucharistic adoration and Marian devotion, the Dominican Sisters community exists for the salvation of souls and the building of the Church throughout the world, in accord with Pope John Paul II's vision for a new evangelization. For more information, visit their website.

About "The American Bible Challenge"

"The American Bible Challenge" is produced by RelativityREAL for GSN, with RelativityREAL's Tom Forman ("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition") serving as executive producer on the project along with Janelle Fiorito ("Extra Virgin"). Nick Stuart and Maura Dunbar of Odyssey Networks are consulting producers. Odyssey Networks is the country's largest multifaith coalition dedicated to producing and distributing media that creates understanding among people of different beliefs and perspectives.

Jennifer Rey is the web editor of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing.

Erlandson in Rome: The “Francis effect” on ecumenical and inter-religious relations

By Greg Erlandson

In a week of widespread enthusiasm for the election of Pope Francis, there have been two positive developments regarding the Catholic Church and its relations with both the Orthodox and the Jews.

Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew of Constantinople
will attend Pope Francis'
inaugural Mass
CNS photo

The Orthodox Church

The first is that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople will attend Pope Francis' inaugural Mass on Tuesday, March 19.

According to the Ecumenical Patriarchate Press Office, this will the first such visit since the definitive Orthodox-Catholic rupture in 1054.

Bartholomew will be accompanied by the co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church, as well as the Orthodox Metropolitans of Argentina and Italy.

While Pope Francis has not been involved in the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue efforts, he himself has served as the bishop for the Eastern-Rite faithful in Argentina.

Upon news of the election of Pope Francis, the Ecumenical Patriarch had sent a particularly warm note of congratulations. "Permit us also, on this historic occasion, to convey our unfeigned wishes and fervent prayers that your papal tenure may prove to be a source of peace in our world of turmoil and division, a refuge and consolation for our Lord's poor and suffering brothers and sisters, as well as a continuation of our journey toward reconciliation and consolidation of the dialogue toward unity as Sister Churches," the Patriarch's message had read.

The Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church, which has often been a bit more distant from the Roman Catholic Church than Bartholomew, also reacted positively to the election of Pope Francis.

The  head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, Archpriest Dimitry Sizonenko, said that the new pope "is known for his conservative positions and his reign will be characterized by the strengthening of faith."

"The fact that he took the name Francis confirms his conception of evangelization primarily as a service to the poor, such as protection of their dignity," Sizonenko said.

The Russian Orthodox spokesman said he hopes that the policies of Pope Benedict XVI will continue, as will positive developments in ecumenical dialogue.

Sizonenko called Pope Francis' request that the people pray for and bless him an act of "great charisma and humility."

Judaism

In a separate development, the pope on Friday, March 15, sent a note to Riccardo di Segni, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, inviting him specifically to the inauguration Mass on March 19. Pope Francis also expressed the wish that he will be able to "contribute to the progress of relations between Jews and Catholics" that began with the second Vatican Council "in a spirit of renewed collaboration and in service to a world that can always be more in harmony with the will of the Creator."

Riccardo di Segni, Chief Rabbi
of Rome, pictured in office
CNS photo

As the Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis had good relationships with the Jewish community. He wrote the foreword to a book by Rabbi Sergio Bergman, a Buenos Aires legislator, and referred to him as "one of my teachers."

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio attended Rosh Hashanah services at the Benei Tikva Slijot synagogue in September 2007, and last year he hosted a Kristallnacht memorial event at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral with Rabbi Alejandro Avruj from the NCI-Emanuel World Masorti congregation.

Perhaps one of the most dramatic attacks on the Argentine Jewish community happened when a Jewish community center was bombed by radicals in 1994 in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people. After the bombing, said Rabbi David Rosen, the director of interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee, Bergoglio "showed solidarity with the Jewish community" and has continued to call for justice for the victims.

"Those who said Benedict was the last pope who would be a pope that lived through the Shoah, or that said there would not be another pope who had a personal connection to the Jewish people, they were wrong," Rosen told the Jewish news service JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency).

Greg Erlandson is OSV president and publisher.

Ivereigh in Rome: Pope Francis, truly the Bishop of Rome

By Austen Ivereigh

Yesterday, on the first Sunday of Pope Francis' pontificate, the new pontiff was very definitely Bishop of Rome – although for a time in the morning he seemed to be firstly the Vatican's parish priest.

In the morning he celebrated Mass at the church of Sant'Anna, the Vatican's little gem of a church just inside the Porta di Sant'Anna, dressed in a surplice so simple that it could have been that of any parish priest.

Pope Francis greets boy after celebrating
Mass at St. Anne's Parish within Vatican
CNS photo

At the end of Mass, Pope Francis unexpectedly, and spontaneously, walked back to the ambo to draw the congregation's attention to the presence of a Uruguayan priest among them. Father Gonzalo Aemilius, the director of the Liceo Jubilar Juan Pablo II in Uruguay, had built a school for street children and drug addicts and made known Jesus to them, the pope told the congregation.

It was the kind of thing my parish priest would do at home – get back up at the end to say something that was on his mind or to congratulate a parishioner. For a pope to do this it was, well, extraordinary.

Afterward, still in his vestments, he greeted the congregation at the church door. Were it not for the cameras, and the purple-sashed attendants, this really could have been any Sunday parish scene.

After changing back into his papal vestments, he then walked out of the Porta Sant'Anna, leaving the Vatican for a few minutes to shake hands with people contained behind the barrier on the road to St Peter's Square.

"Mercy," said Pope Francis in his off-the-cuff homily, "is the Lord’s greatest message." That was his theme, also, when he appeared at the usual window in the papal apartments for the Angelus. The crowd was reckoned to be 300,000 – larger, even, than the crowds on Wednesday night – and in a jubilant mood. He had a clear theme that he repeated a number of times – that God never tires of forgiving us, but we tire of asking him – and managed to mix in humor and anecdotes. Again, I was struck by the vigor and vitality of our new pope – and his great preaching skills.

But one thing puzzled me. He used no other languages, as Benedict XVI always did in his Angelus. Nor did he on Saturday, in his meeting with journalists, apart from the brief blessing at the end in Spanish – which was possibly, many here think, not intended to be so, but which just slipped out.

What's going on? Is the Bishop of Rome establishing his local roots, identifying firstly with his new city? Will the languages come later, once those roots are firmer? Or is this part of the new, simple style? I will try to get answers today.

Austen Ivereigh, who is blogging for us from Rome on the papal transition, is a British Catholic journalist, commentator and director of Catholic Voices (www.catholicvoices.org.uk). A former communications director to the Archbishop emeritus of Westminster (England), Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, he accompanied the cardinal to Rome in 2005 for the funeral of Pope John Paul II and election of Pope Benedict XVI. He is the author of "How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice" (OSV, $13.95).

Erlandson in Rome: The Angelus tidal wave

By Greg Erlandson

I admit I made a mistake. I was taking a distinctly Italian approach to the prospect of attending the first Angelus Address by Pope Francis.

Huge crowd overflows St. Peter's Square as
Pope Francis delivers blessing during first
Angelus at Vatican
CNS photo

It is a Roman tradition that the pope prays the Angelus and speaks to pilgrims and passersby every Sunday at noon from the window of his apartments. There is always a papal blessing as well, and on a sunny day, many can come to the square for a 15-minute encounter with the pope, even if he is only a tiny white figure at a great distance.

But the electric atmosphere around Pope Francis should have warned me that if I wanted to get into the square to see him at all, I should get there at least two hours early, if not more. 

Instead, I strolled over at 11:30, figuring I'd make a quick visit before I joined the rest of Rome in heading home for lunch.

Big mistake.

The first hint was one could see a long stream of people heading in the wrong direction from the square down a side street near the Vatican. What are you doing? I asked. A kind woman pointed out that they had to enter the main boulevard to St. Peter's Square far down toward the river. The traffic authorities were making sure that all the side streets and alleys were blocked off. Once I entered Via della Conciliazione, I saw that my cause was hopeless. There were easily 100,000 people, maybe more. 

Like any good Italian, I wriggled and crept my way forward, inching through the press of humanity that caused at least a few less hardy souls to have panic attacks and swim for the sidelines.

Finally, at the beginning of Piazza Pio XII, the smaller square in front of St. Peter's Square where one can usually buy a newspaper or find a taxi, I stopped. There was no movement. I could not see the pope. I could barely hear the pope. French and American, Chilean and of course Argentine flags waved in the breeze, but I was going nowhere.

I tried to call up Vatican Radio, but of course all the cell towers were overloaded, so there was no contact with the outside world. I was surrounded by Polish priests and Italian families, Americans and French and Spanish-speakers from all over the world. At one point, as people began to wiggle toward the exit and away from St. Peter's, a young Chilean woman identified the president of Chile nearby who was also retreating. He had been no more successful than me in seeing Pope Francis.

Yet rather than feeling defeated, I felt invigorated. What a spectacular gathering of people, all to hear our pope. How this must chill the blood of those who feel our Church has nothing to offer, no one to represent it in modernity's many battlefields. Today was a reminder that we are not a perfect Church, certainly, but we remain amazing. For 2,000 years and counting, the Church continues to attract those who seek, in the pope's words, truth, beauty and goodness. Even on a cold Sunday afternoon in Rome.

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord.

Greg Erlandson is OSV president and publisher.

The Curia: reform it or respect it?

By Greg Erlandson

One of the truisms endlessly discussed and written about in the past month of historic papal events has been the need to reform the Curia of the Vatican. The cardinals apparently discussed it. The press wrote about it. And many of the (manifestly wrong) guesses about who would be our next pope were shaped by the assumption that this was the top priority of nearly everybody.

Pope Francis greets Cardinal Bertone following
meeting with College of Cardinals
CNS photo

Many of the mistakes that burdened the Benedict pontificate were blamed on the Curia, and the "Vatileaks" scandal, stolen documents released to the press, underscored the suspicion that the Curia was the problem.

Indeed, even the analysis of "voting blocs" within the College of Cardinals was framed by this concern. There was a bloc of curial cardinals  and a bloc of anti-curialists, so this analysis went, and nearly every event was analyzed in these terms.

Cardinals talking about reform of the Curia is a bit like beauty pageant contestants talking about world peace, is one wag's comment making the rounds. And world peace has a better chance of occurring. This is an ancient and complex bureaucracy not easily understood or reformed.

But why this focus on the Curia, and what is it?

The Curia is the general bureaucracy of the Vatican. The Vatican is constructed as a series of departments. The most powerful is the Secretariat of State, simply because it is so deeply involved in the internal and external affairs of the Vatican. As a result, much of the ire when things go wrong are aimed at the Secretary of State – who now is Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a Salesian canonist and a close collaborator of Pope Benedict when he served as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. That Congregation is also very influential, but there is also the Congregation for Bishops, for Clergy, for the Evangelization of Peoples, as well as Councils, such as for Social Communications and for the Family.

The heads of Congregations are always cardinals, for councils they may be Archbishops. They are always male.

Below them, however, are priests, women religious and lay people. When people talk of the internationalization of the Curia, they usually mean at the top: where the cardinals and the archbishops come from. At the lowest ranks, they are often Italian, but there is staff from all continents. Italian is a critically important language at the Vatican. Whether you are a cardinal or low-level staffer, without Italian you would be very limited in what you could do and what influence you would have.

So to return to curial reform, the discussion usually takes two forms. The first is to chop off some of the people at the top. Such change will happen naturally, if only because so many of the important curial cardinals are close to retirement age. If Pope Francis lives for five years, he is likely to see the Curia heads change simply by attrition.

The other, and more difficult challenge – particularly for a Pope who has never been a member of Curia of the Vatican – would be a more profound re-organization in terms of departments, in terms of accountability and transparency, and in terms of technology and communications. This will be heavy lifting, as it would be anywhere, because it impacts peoples' jobs and peoples' authority and power.

Italians are masters of the non-reform reform. As one of the quintessentially Italian books – "The Leopard," by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa – put it when describing the social upheaval that came about with the unification of Italy in the 19th century, "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change."

So this is the challenge faced by any large organization, and perhaps more so by the Vatican. It is also important to remember that when there are such large institutional problems, one must eventually look at the top leadership. Several observers have told me that the Curia has been ignored for most of two papacies. John Paul II was an extrovert who did not want to be tied down to the mundane internal tasks of governance. Benedict was an introvert who wanted to be writing.

The problem is not that the Curia needs reform, many have said. It needs to be paid attention to. There needs to be access by the various department heads to the "boss," the pope, and vice versa. There needs to be regular cabinet-level meetings. Messages need to be delivered in person, not filtered and edited by a single intermediary, no matter how smart or powerful that person might be. The pope needs to hear from his people, and they need to hear from him.

Pope Francis has a great deal of experience running a large bureaucracy. Buenos Aires has more than 2.5 million Catholics and is a complex entity with complicated relations with the government. I do not think that this will be an insurmountable problem for Francis if the right key people are hired and put in the right positions.

And what does Pope Francis think about the Curia and its reform? There are a few interesting signs. In his meeting with journalists on March 16, he said that one of the names a cardinal had suggested for him was Hadrian, because Hadrian VI was the reformer, we need reform ...” In the same meeting he also referred to his great friend Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, a popular Brazilian church leader who may have his own advice for the pope after serving for the past several years in the Curia and seeing it from the inside.

But Pope Francis also talked to Italian Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli  in February 2012 about the Curia, and it is clear he sees the issue through pastoral eyes:

"I see [the Curia] as a body that gives service, a body that helps me and serves me. Sometimes negative news does come out, but it is often exaggerated and manipulated to spread scandal. ...  The Roman Curia has its down sides, but I think that too much emphasis is placed on its negative aspects and not enough on the holiness of the numerous consecrated and lay people who work in it."

As of Saturday, March 16, it was announced that the Pope had provisionally reappointed all of the curial heads of departments. The Vatican said that Pope Francis wanted "a certain time for reflection, prayer and dialogue" before making any permanent appointments. The suspense continues.

Greg Erlandson is OSV president and publisher.

Ivereigh in Rome: This most communicative of popes

By Austen Ivereigh

Pope Francis strokes blind man's
dog at meeting with journalists

At Saturday morning's meeting with the thousands of journalists in Rome to cover the papal transition, Pope Francis revealed himself in a whole new way. Having watched him Friday warmly greet the cardinals one by one, his warmth was obvious. But how would he be with an audience of journalists from across the world, many of whom were not even religious?

The answer is: engaging, funny, disarming, compelling. They loved him.

Later I was asked on BBC News if I didn't think there was a danger in the journalists being a little awestruck by the pope, as if in the presence of a rock star, and might lose their objectivity? (I am confident that this is the first time I have been asked that question.)

A striking personality

The energy of the man, as well as his confident stride and emphatic gestures, are all the more striking because of the contrast with Benedict XVI's gentle and frail manner in recent years. But we also saw today how confident he is in leaving aside the stiffness and rigidity of protocol. After Cardinal Claudio Celli of the Council for Social Communications "presented" the audience to him, the pope spontaneously stood up from his chair and walked across the stage to embrace him. This "moving out towards others," rather than remaining fixed to the spot and waiting to be addressed, reinforces everything Greg Erlandson spotted in that first encounter from the balcony of the loggia of St Peter's on Wednesday night.

The first part of the talk was a fervorino in which he thanked us for our work while not missing the opportunity to teach us something about the nature of the Church. There were no platitudes, only some well thought-through comments about the challenges of reporting on a body whose logic was spiritual rather than political or economic, and making it comprehensible to a mass audience. But acknowledging the Church's true nature was the only way of reporting on it with integrity. The Church, he said, is "the People of God, the Holy People of God making its way to encounter Jesus Christ. Only from this perspective can a satisfactory account be given of the Church’s life and activity."

He then reminded an audience of journalists who had been reporting on the change of popes where the real story had been all the time.

Very emphatically, he pointed out that "Christ remains the center, not the Successor of Peter: Christ, Christ is the center. Christ is the fundamental point of reference, the heart of the Church. Without him, Peter and the Church would not exist or have reason to exist."

In the same way, he went on, the real protagonist of the story of the last weeks has been the Holy Spirit – guiding Benedict XVI in his decision to resign for the good of the Church, and in guiding the cardinals who assembled to elect his successor.

He then sought to make a connection with the media in a very beautiful way. The Church, he said, "highly esteems your important work" and understands that it called "careful preparation, sensitivity and experience, like so many other professions, but it also demands a particular concern for what is true, good and beautiful.”"

He added: "This is something which we have in common, since the Church exists to communicate precisely this: Truth, Goodness and Beauty 'in person.'"

The name Francis

At this point he put aside his text and told us why he chose the name Francis, giving journalists what we most need: a great story, told with vivid detail and personal touches.

At the end, he welcomed, one by one, much as he did the cardinals on Friday, members of the Vatican communications team, as well as some lucky reporters whose names were picked randomly to represent the thousands there.

Among them was a blind man, with a guide dog. It seemed too perfect that a pope named after St. Francis of Assisi would be seen, on his first major public appearance, with an animal; I couldn't help recalling that pigeon perched on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday night, shortly before the white smoke.

Never having seen a pope with a dog before, I prayed rather earnestly that Pope Francis would stroke, or at least acknowledge, the golden Labrador whose tail was wagging. (He did.)

And at the end this most communicative of popes – who as Archbishop of Buenos Aires was so famous for refusing interviews that the journalists joked that his spokesman's task was to interpret his silences –respectfully acknowledged that the room had within it non-believers as well as believers, saying: "I cordially give this blessing silently, to each of you, respecting the conscience of each, but in the knowledge that each of you is a child of God."

Afterwards, the faces of even the most streetwise, hardened hack was wreathed in smiles.

United in prayer: More than half-a-million people join campaign to pray for cardinals at conclave

Cardinals look on as new pope
makes his first appearance
CNS photo

Amid the bets, brackets and predictions leading up to the conclave, more than half-a-million people signed up to instead pray for the cardinals. The "Adopt a Cardinal" campaign was launched as a way to gather people together virtually to pray for the cardinals electing the new pope. At adoptacardinal.org, one simply entered an email address and then received information about a cardinal to keep in prayer.

The final tally? Cardinals were assigned 552,383 times, and, according to Ulrike Heckl from Adopt a Cardinal, only a few people were repeat customers. In addition, faithful from around the world who did not have email access also joined in. For example, a parish in the Philippines had more than 500 people join in prayer, and many other classes, families and prayer groups did the same.

The most incredible aspect of this campaign, noted Heckl, is not the vast number of people that responded, but rather the intensity in which many people responded to such a simple request: Pray for the Church. Many people have committed to keep praying for their cardinals. Others shared the deep impact that this prayer experience had on their lives. Many felt more connected with the cardinals and the entire Church worldwide.

This was an extraordinary way to experience the wide expanse of the Church, to connect with fellow Catholics around the world.

Ivereigh in Rome: The day after the big day

By Austen Ivereigh

Newly-elected Pope Francis
prays in front of icon at
Rome basilica
CNS photo

As a presenter's friend for the British TV channel Sky News, on a platform just above St. Peter's Square shared with CBS, I had a ringside view – and the exciting, if awesome, responsibility of calling the name of the one who had been elected. After the morning black smoke came early, Father Federico Lombardi explained that there had been no need to collect the votes of sick cardinals back at the Domus Santa Marta. That meant the cardinals were running a half-hour ahead of schedule. That should have meant that the fumata after the day's fourth ballot would come at 6:15 or 6.30 p.m. As we came to 7 p.m., I was trying to work out how they could have regained the half-hour, when it dawned on me. "There can only be one reason for the delay," I told the presenter, Colin Brazier. "They've elected." Just then, there was a roar from the Square below, and the gushing white smoke confirmed it.

The previous hour I had been mulling, on air, what could be happening. I had repeatedly said, in interviews before and during the conclave, that this time the papacy was likely to go outside Europe, and probably to the Americas. But because no one had spotted how, during the general congregations, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had emerged, I had bought into the assumption that, if the conclave was short, it would be Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan. Prodded by Colin to take a guess, I said so. But I added a caveat: "If it isn't Scola, then we will have to realize that there was, in fact, a strong candidate from the beginning, one capable of attracting votes." That turned out to be true.

Human, democratic process

I had a series of simultaneous reactions of joy when Pope Francis finally emerged. The first was delighted disbelief: I know Argentina well from researching my doctorate on the Church there in the late 1990s and returning many times since. The second was a realization that the Holy Spirit really does act in a conclave, that no human logic – and there had been plenty of that in the fevered run-up to the papal election – can work it out in advance. Here was the pope the Church needs – and only later will we see that we did need him. My trust in the conclave system, which has grown the more I have become acquainted with it, was not misplaced.

What I love most about the final result of that process – the emergence of our new pope – is how human and genuinely democratic it is. It is easy to dwell on the theatricality of the conclave – the suspense, the twitching of the curtain, the gasp-inducing moment in which the new pope is revealed to the world – but the drama is in reality a by-product. What is actually happening – and it happened brilliantly last night, when Pope Francis greeted the world with a disarming buona sera, bowing to receive our blessing – is a personal encounter, a meeting of hearts. Any other global organization would announce a new leader with a press release or a TV interview. But in the Church the pope comes out to meet us – all of us.

Gentle, yet strong voice

The new pope has great communicative skills. He does not have the theatricality or presence of Pope John Paul II, nor the dazzling intellect of Benedict XVI. But his gentle voice carries great power. His words are precise, and they pack a punch. I have just watched his first Mass as pope; the homily took three simple movement words – walking, building, confessing – and made them a recipe for the Christian life.

As an example of his succinct, forceful style, consider his words – in my translation – in a 2011 interview. In answer to a question about "the laity" he said:

"There are laypeople who seriously live out their faith. They believe Jesus is alive and they hope in the Resurrection, but in the meantime they don't just scratch their bellies, as the Chileans say, but they work hoping for the coming of the Lord and preparing the way. But [in other cases] there's a problem: I've said it before, and that's the temptation of clericalization. We priests tend to clericalize laypeople. We don't realize we're doing it, but it's as if we contaminate laypeople with what we are. And some lay people – not all, but many – beg us on their knees to be clericalized by us, because it's easier to be an altar boy than the protagonist of lay vocation. We mustn't fall into that trap; it's a sinful complicity. We shouldn't clericalize, and we shouldn't ask to be clericalized. The layperson is a layperson and should live like a layperson, with the strength that comes from baptism, which enables him to be the yeast of the love of God in society, creating and sowing hope, not from a pulpit but from his or her daily life. And carrying their daily Cross, as we all do, but the Cross of a layperson, not a priest. The Cross of a priest you should leave the priest to carry: God gave him a big enough shoulder for that."

The Franciscan papacy is barely begun, but already a new style is evident. This is a very exciting time to be a Catholic.

Austen Ivereigh, who is blogging for us from Rome on the papal transition, is a British Catholic journalist, commentator and director of Catholic Voices (www.catholicvoices.org.uk). A former communications director to the Archbishop emeritus of Westminster (England), Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, he accompanied the cardinal to Rome in 2005 for the funeral of Pope John Paul II and election of Pope Benedict XVI. He is the author of "How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice" (OSV, $13.95).

Erlandson in Rome: Our Franciscan Jesuit pope

By Greg Erlandson

Let us go back to that remarkable moment March 13 when Pope Francis was introduced to us on the balcony of St Peter's. In a moment when nothing can really be scripted, when the soul is in shock at what has transpired: going from one of 115 to the Supreme Pontiff and Vicar of Christ.

And at this moment, we saw some remarkable hints and intimations of what is to come.

Newly elected Pope Francis waves
after praying at basilica in Rome
CNS photo

Extraordinary in simplicity

His first words, "buona sera" (good evening), were informal and natural.

More striking was that in the first discourse of the new pope, he never used the word "pope." Instead, he described himself (and his predecessor) as "bishop of Rome."

He had a gentle sense of humor: "You know that the task of the conclave was to give Rome a bishop. It seems my brother cardinals went almost to the ends of the earth to find one."

Then he revealed that he envisioned himself first and foremost as a pastor: "The diocesan community of Rome has its bishop."

He prayed for his predecessor, but did not call him by the official title "pope emeritus." Some have been objecting to this title, since it immediately suggests two popes. Instead, Pope Francis called him "our bishop emeritus, Benedict XVI."

Then he led the entire Piazza in prayer, but it was prayer that all could join in rather than simply listen to, for this pastor led us all in the two prayers known by every Catholic: The Our Father and the Hail Mary. It was extraordinary in its simplicity. The square was one as it said "Nostro Padre, chi sei nei cieli …"

And then his meditation began, starting with the image of "journey," of a walk together, a pilgrimage of faith. "Now let's begin this journey, bishop and people …" It is a "journey of the church of Rome, which is the one that presides in charity over all the churches – a journey of brotherhood, love and trust among us." When he described this church, he describes it in both universal and local terms, invoking a context that goes back to Pope Gregory the Great, I'm told. It is both very Catholic and yet pastorally humble.

From here he goes directly to the mission of the Church, which is evangelization: "Let us pray for the whole world that there be a great brotherhood. I hope this journey of the church that we begin today – and I will be helped by my cardinal vicar, here present – will be fruitful for the evangelization of this so beautiful city." Standing next to the new bishop of Rome was the cardinal vicar of Rome, the man who runs the day to day affairs of this diocese. It was symbolically important that he be invited to share the balcony with Francis, again underscoring the pastoral and the local.

Remarkably humble

Finally, what I consider the glory of this brief conversation with his people: Francis preceded the famous Urbi et Orbi (the Church and the World) blessing with a request for a blessing. "Now I would like to give my blessing. But first, I will ask a favor. Before the bishop blesses his people, he asks that you pray to the Lord to bless me, the prayer of the people for the blessing of their bishop. Let's pray for me in silence."

Wow. This was really unprecedented, and the whole square became silent in prayer. Pope Francis had, with the first prayers for Benedict and then the prayer for himself, turned the square itself into a Church. It was remarkably humble and moving.

Then the conversation drew to a close: "Brothers and sisters, I'll leave you. Thank you so much for the welcome. Pray for me. We'll see each other soon. Tomorrow I want to go to pray to Mary so she would watch over all of Rome. Good night. Have a good rest." Even in these lines, a final note of paternal solicitude for his people, and of course the notation of his Marian devotion, for he would leave the next morning early to visit an icon venerated by the people of Rome in St. Mary Major, one of the city’s great basilicas.

I think this short spiritual conversation with his new diocese and with his people is revealing and inspiring. It bodes well of the approach of our new pope, our Franciscan Jesuit Pope!

Greg Erlandson is OSV president and publisher.

Bunson: Rooftops and relevance

By Matthew Bunson

There were more than 6,000 accredited journalists in Rome to cover the conclave that led to the election of Pope Francis on March 13. All of the rooftops of the buildings surrounding St. Peter's Basilica were rented by the leading international news networks, which jockeyed for the best angles of the Piazza and the loggia of St. Peter's to cover the emergence of Pope Francis and his introduction to the globe.

Crowd seen in St. Peter's Square after white
smoke rose from chimney above Sistine Chapel
indicating new pope elected.
CNS photo

There was a profound contradiction in all of this, of course. The A-list of modern media decamped in Rome with cameras and microphones pointed toward the basilica to capture every word of the new pontiff, even as they declared with near magisterial authority that the Church is no longer relevant to the modern world.

This has happened before, of course. In 1799, Pope Pius VI had died a prisoner of the French, and the cardinals could not gather in Rome because it was occupied by French forces. They met in the one place where they might be safe, in a Benedictine monastery on a little island just off Venice. They elected Pope Pius VII, but many assumed across Europe that the papacy could not long survive the tides of what was then modernity.

Do popes matter?

The late English writer Peter Hebblethwaite once asked, "Do the popes matter?" They clearly do. And to more than 1.3 billion Catholics who will call him the Vicar of Christ.  

As the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis oversees the world's largest charitable effort, feeding millions, caring for the homeless and forgotten and providing medical care for literally hundreds of millions. Despite the recent travails of the Church, the pope is still viewed almost universally as a moral guide and voice for peace, justice and human dignity at a time when the planet confronts thundering drumbeats of war and new crises caused by transnational capitalism, fast-moving globalization and profound ethical questions raised by advances in science and medicine.  

His writing and homilies will provoke study and also criticism – witness Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 encyclical that called for oversight over global finance – but they will be read. And this pontiff dedicated to Christlike humility and service will take his presence and his teachings to the corners of the globe. He will have a voice in the great debates of our time, and even those who disagree with him will nevertheless be unable to dismiss him.

The popes still matter. Anyone who doubts that needed only to look at the rooftops of Rome. 

Matthew Bunson is OSV senior correspondent.

Erlandson in Rome: A pope who is bishop

By Greg Erlandson

It is late, but the Roman rain has stopped, at least temporarily, and the air is now thick with excitement and wonder over the election of Pope Francis.

A few quick observations about Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He is a man marked by great humility. He asked for our prayers, and he led us in prayer. He asked for our blessing even as he blessed us.

He never once used the word "pope," but referred to himself as Bishop of Rome, and he called his predecessor "Bishop Emeritus of Rome." This may have great ecumenical implications, but it also suggests that he is modeling behavior for the leaders of the Catholic Church as well.

Cardinal Dolan told several great stories that underscored the humility of our new pope. For example, Francis rushed the rituals that inaugurate his reign so that he could address the people in the square who had been standing so patiently in the rain for hours. As an archbishop he rode the bus to work in Buenos Aires, and when the cardinals rode back to the Domus Santa Marta for dinner, the new pope rode in the last minibus with them.

Make no mistake, however. He is intelligent. He is said to be firm. One story is that when he has bad news, he gives it to you himself rather than delegating the task, but that he also gives you good news when you have done something praiseworthy.

He is a Pope who was chosen, I believe, because the cardinals want a renewal of the Church. "Help rebuild my Church," the Lord told St. Francis in a dream. The Church is always in need of renewal and rebuilding. But the press, who so misjudged this selection, have also misjudged the issues of the day. It is not so much that the Curia is the priority problem, but that the whole Church, including the Curia, needs renewal. And this renewal begins on our knees praying.

At the same time, Francis may well be a sign that the rift between social teachings and doctrine is itself an aberration, and that Catholics are called to know their faith but also to live it, and living it means caring for those least able to care for themselves.

This is an inspired choice, and my prayer and my hope is that Pope Francis will call all of us to renewal in humility, service and love.

Greg Erlandson is OSV president and publisher.

"Habemus Papam!" The Church welcomes Francis

Pope Francis appears
for first time on balcony of
St.Peter's Basilica
CNS photo

The election of a new pope is a momentous event in the life of the Catholic Church. Our Sunday Visitor, along with the rest of the world, joyously welcomes Pope Francis, formerly known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, as the Church's new spiritual leader.

The announcement and first appearance of Pope Francis came March 13, a little more than a month after the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

The pope emeritus' resignation marked a historic and also a powerfully dramatic moment for Catholics everywhere. Because of this, Our Sunday Visitor is pleased to offer "The New Pope" book, the first biography of Pope Francis in the English language.

"The New Pope" is the most recent work by Dr. Matthew Bunson, the author of the first biography of Pope Benedict XVI in the English language, The Pope Encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia of Catholic History and the upcoming Encyclopedia of U.S. Catholic History. Bunson also is a professor of Church History and a consultant to news organizations all over the world, including USA Today and ABC News, and has appeared on countless radio and television programs, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, EWTN, Relevant Radio, the BBC, NPR and France 24.

Bunson's book is based on years of research and his observation of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI and members of the College of Cardinals.

Research has been conducted in five different languages into the lives and ministries of the leading Cardinals and represents a study of their backgrounds, writings and homilies. The cardinals are the key leaders of the Church around the world, and their words and ministry have been shaping global Catholicism for years. Each cardinal has a unique personality, background, and education, and while only one of them was elected pope, each contributed to the events of the last week.

"The New Pope" represents a comprehensive analysis of the final days of the pontificate of Pope Benedict, the interregnum, and the crises, challenges and opportunities facing the new pontiff and the global Church.

It is a book for anyone who wants to learn more about Pope Francis, the incredible last days of Pope Benedict’s pontificate, the modern Church and the future of Catholicism.

Among the unique features of the book will be:

• The events and analysis of Pope Benedict’s resignation.
• Analysis as to why the College of Cardinals chose to elect the new pope.
• A complete biography of the new Successor of St. Peter, including his family history, work as a priest and bishop, and his time as a Cardinal.
• Texts and speeches given by the new pope from the moment of his election to his Installation.
• A discussion of the new pope’s coat of arms and other symbols of the papacy.
• A comprehensive discussion of what lies ahead for the new pope. 
• A glossary of important terms for the papacy and conclave.

To pre-order "The New Pope," visit our website.

Ivereigh in Rome: Notes on conclave day one

By Austen Ivereigh

A major chill descended on Rome Monday, along with biting winds, heavy rain and even, for a time, a hailstorm. It wasn't the best weather for spending three hours on live TV stands commentating on the start of the conclave. By the time I had done the rounds of BBC and Sky News – who share their stands with NBC and CBS respectively – there was not a lot of feeling left in my feet.

Cardinals seen in Sistine Chapel for conclave
CNS photo

But I had, at least, bumped into many old friends – like George Weigel, who was hurrying up the escalator to the NBC stand – and I enjoyed a to-die-for view of St. Peter's Square, where a few hundred sodden spectators huddled under umbrellas to watch the solemn procession into the Sistine Chapel and the swearing of the oath to abide by the conclave rules.

What follows are some observations about the events of the day:

• We were treated, in the morning, to Vatican TV's gorgeous swooping shots of the Mass for the election of a pontiff and by the afternoon were ready for more streams of scarlet. The shots were unprecedented: It is the first time the conclave procession into the Sistine Chapel has ever been live-broadcast. What the cardinals had said about the last conclave – that the voting part was more akin to liturgy than anything else – suddenly became clearer.
• While waiting to go on air for Sky, I took a call from The Washington Post. Did televising the oath ceremony demystify the conclave? The answer, of course, was yes, but in a good way. I explained that it showed us that the "arcane, secretive" process of a conclave was actually all about enabling the voting to take place in freedom, without fear or favor. Seeing the cardinals take the oath you realized what a solemn undertaking this was.
• At dinner with American colleagues on Sunday, I heard from an aide to one of the U.S. cardinals being talked about as papabile. The cardinal, he said, would not be sleeping that night. That was doubtless true also of other, non-papabile cardinals. It is not a small matter, this voting for the successor of St Peter. Whatever Pope Paul VI's reasons for changing the regulations to prevent over-80 cardinals to vote, Pope John Paul II was motivated by charity to keep the changes. "The reason for this provision," he explained in Universi Domini Gregis, "is the desire not to add to the weight of such venerable age the further burden of responsibility for choosing the one who will have to lead Christ's flock in ways adapted to the needs of the times."

Austen Ivereigh, who is blogging for us from Rome on the papal transition, is a British Catholic journalist, commentator and director of Catholic Voices (www.catholicvoices.org.uk). A former communications director to the Archbishop emeritus of Westminster (England), Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, he accompanied the cardinal to Rome in 2005 for the funeral of Pope John Paul II and election of Pope Benedict XVI. He is the author of "How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice" (OSV, $13.95).

Erlandson in Rome: The lessons of conclave 2013

By Greg Erlandson

People have asked me what the difference is between the atmosphere of the conclave in 2005 and the conclave of 2013. While we are still in the midst of the drama, I have a few observations.

The obvious one is that this is the first Twitter conclave. Social media reigns supreme in moments like these, and the Twittersphere is awash in notes, observations, humor and asides. Even the chimney on the roof has its own hashtag and claims it likes all the attention it is receiving.

A man holds a Vatican flag as
he waits in St. Peter's Square
for smoke signal from Sistine
Chapel
CNS photo

Traditional media coverage has been overwhelming as well. The Italian press has gotten some bad raps from various disgruntled colleagues, but the daily papers are filled with very useful information as well as the usual rumors and unsourced speculation. The foreign press here is being thorough as well, even if only because it is the "celebrity story" of the moment.

Beyond the media, it should be remembered that in 2005 it had been a generation since the last conclave. In a very real sense, the number of people who had directly experienced – at a decision-making level – the two conclaves of 1978 was few and far between. From the point of view of the media, the average Vatican employee, the cardinals and of course the ordinary laity, 1978 was a distant memory rather than a living template.

In addition, the outpouring of grief at the death of John Paul II was almost disorienting. Remember the crowds stretching from St. Peter's to the Tiber River? It was overwhelming for everyone, including the Vatican.

Improving the process

In 2013, while we were all somewhat caught off guard by the timing of Pope Benedict’s announcement that he intended to "renounce" the papacy, at the same time he did us a favor by – in essence – giving us two weeks' notice.

Also, there are many more experienced people available now who knew the process and, no doubt, had made notes on how to improve it.

The Pontifical Council for Social Communications, for example, is one of the hardest working departments in the Vatican during this interregnum. They have had to put in place an accreditation process that is really quite efficient (despite my own bumps on that road!). An online website allowed journalists from all over the world to get their documentation in (including a promise not to break any embargoes), so that they could simply pick up their tessera or press pass when they showed up in Rome.

Instead of one crowded temporary media center to handle the newcomers (who are not allowed into the official sala stampa or press office of the Vatican), there are two: One is to the left of St. Peter's Square a few hundred meters. The other is down at the building where the Pontifical Council is housed (at the beginning of the broad boulevard leading up to St. Peter's called Via della Conciliazione.

The difference – and something that maybe could be addressed with the next conclave (God forbid anytime soon) – is that the one near the Square has all the documentation that is being handed out. However, because of the jamming equipment to prevent cell phone leaks, there is no Wi-Fi and no cell phone usage inside the building. There is DSL cable access to the Internet, but this limits flexibility.

In the media center that is further away, there is indeed wireless access, and it is a good deal calmer. This is where I am writing my blog right now, while staring at a live video fed of St. Peter's rain-drenched square.

Ah, that is one other thing that could be fixed for the next conclave: Better weather!

Greg Erlandson is OSV president and publisher.

Conclave day 2: Keep track of voting, smoke and more!

The second day of voting will be a full day for the cardinals, beginning at 6:30 a.m. Rome time and including four voting sessions if needed. The full schedule is below with Eastern Daylight Times (EDT) in parentheses.

You can also follow OSV president and publisher Greg Erlandson on Twitter @GregOSV as he covers the conclave in Rome, as well as our main Twitter account @OSV for timely coverage. A collection of pertinent news stories are available on our website.

CNS photo

Wednesday, March 13

6:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m.) – Breakfast is served.

7:45 a.m. (2:45 a.m.) – The cardinals transfer from the Domus Sanctae Marthae to the Pauline Chapel.

8:15 a.m. (3:15 a.m.) – Mass is celebrated in the Pauline Chapel.

9:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m.) – The cardinals transfer from the Pauline Chapel to the Sistine Chapel, pray Hora Media (Liturgy of the Hours) and proceed with two rounds of voting.

10:30-11 a.m. (5:30-6 a.m.) – Smoke is sent up only if a pope is elected.

12 p.m. (7 a.m.) – Smoke is sent up after the morning votes.

12:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m.) – The cardinals transfer from the Sistine Chapel to the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

1 p.m. (8 a.m.) – Lunch is served.

4 p.m. (11 a.m.) – The cardinals transfer from the Domus Sanctae Marthae to the Sistine Chapel.

4:50 p.m. (11:50 a.m.) – After brief prayer, the cardinals proceed with the two rounds of evening votes.

7 p.m. (2 p.m.) – Smoke is sent up after the evening votes.

7:15 p.m. (2:15 p.m.) – The cardinals pray Vespers in the Sistine Chapel.

7:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m.) – The cardinals transfer from the Sistine Chapel to the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

8 p.m. (3 p.m.) – Dinner is served.

The conclave could follow this basic schedule for another day. After three days, if no pope has been elected by a two-thirds majority, voting is traditionally suspended for one day of prayer, discussion and spiritual exhortation. After a series of seven further ballots, the process may again be halted for reflection, until finally only the two cardinals who received the most votes in the last ballot are eligible in a runoff election. The two candidates, however, do not themselves have the right to vote.

Sources:
"Conclave: timetable for first days," News.va
"Conclave: Black smoke at ballot I," News.va
"A conclave cardinal’s life by the clock," Catholic News Service Blog
"Detailed schedule of conclave released," Catholic News Agency
"The schedule for the conclave (with U.S. times)," Catholic World Report
"How the Church chooses a pope," OSV Newsweekly

Erlandson in Rome: An American pope?

By Greg Erlandson

By American standards, Italy is a rather compact country in which the grand city newspapers are nationally available. What Americans have with The New York Times, Italians have with several major publications, particularly La Repubblica (Rome), La Stampa (Turin) and Corriere della Sera (Milan). (There is also a daily Catholic newspaper called Avvenire.)

Each newspaper has a Vaticanista, someone who is expert at covering the news and reading the tea leaves at the Vatican. The election of a pope is a moment of glory for the Vaticanista, the moment when his facts are closely studied, his sources speculated about, his interpretations debated.

U.S. Cardinals Timothy M. Dolan of New
York and Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, back
right, leave the Pontifical North American
College in Rome enroute to final meeting
with Pope Benedict XVI
CNS photo

One sign of the open nature of this papal election is that the Vaticanisti continue to come up with multiple names of possible front runners as well as the second tier of candidates. Officially, they are not getting this from surveys of the electors, the cardinals themselves, who are supposed to be quiet about such deliberations.

However, cardinals talk among themselves. They may have trusted aides they confide in who in turn drop hints to others. And yes, occasionally cardinals do talk with journalists as well, even if it is only a raised eyebrow during a conversation in the street or a seemingly innocuous anecdote. The retired cardinals, who will not be in the conclave, can also share an anecdote or an observation more freely on occasion, as well as do occasional lower-level Church officials. These are some of the tea leaves being read.

(The U.S. cardinals, it is my impression, play by the rules. Americans wait in lines, obey the "do not litter" signs and follow pre-conclave instructions such as shutting down press conferences. Not all others are quite so duty-bound.)

Increasing stature of U.S. Church

All of which means that there is a great deal of speculation abounding that is unsourced, half-sourced and sourced anonymously. According to all of these, the names of U.S. cardinals are being mentioned as possible papabili. Those who have been most visible are Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Seán O'Malley of Boston. The U.S. media is quite excited about this, and rightly so in the sense that this – along with other developments – is a tribute to the increasing stature of U.S. Church leaders.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., was picked as the relator of last fall’s Synod of Bishops, a prestigious position. A number of the U.S. cardinals have extensive experience in Rome, including Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, who worked at the Vatican, and Cardinal Dolan, who was rector of the North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome. Three of the voting cardinals are based in Rome now: Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, Cardinal Raymond Burke and Cardinal James Harvey.

U.S. cardinals have been a presence in the general congregations that ended on Monday, March 11, speaking up on the critical issues and concerns of the day. As I mentioned earlier, their media presence is significant, both in the professional operations that the U.S. bishops conference and the individual archdioceses have here, but also the attendant secular and Catholic media coverage as well. It seems as if every U.S. news network has its captive experts on hand – Vaticanisti on retainer who can do their own tea leaf parsing for them.

The two U.S. cardinals most often mentioned in the Italian and U.S. media as papabili are quite different. Cardinal Dolan is a highly visible presence: smiling, gregarious, arm grabbing and back slapping with a self-deprecating sense of humor and a presence big enough to fill any room. Experienced, smart, with a strong sense of history and an ease with being in a leadership role, he comes across as quintessentially American.

Cardinal O'Malley seems in some ways a polar opposite. He seems almost the non-American American: He is a Capuchin Franciscan, wearing brown robes and with a demeanor that matches such simplicity. He exudes an air of calm and simplicity. His Italian is accented by the Spanish he is particularly fluent in rather than his American speech. Italians like the stories of his simple lifestyle, and of course they have a deep love of Franciscans, heirs to their most popular saint. In terms of personality, Cardinal O'Malley is more the introvert to Cardinal Dolan's extroversion. He does have a sense of humor, and his smarts and his toughness are not to be overlooked: He has had to deal with four challenging pastoral situations in four different dioceses. 

So, what are the chances that we will have an American pope? If the forecasts are correct (a big if), and if the received wisdom is at all wise, the American options become more likely if the first ballots do not signal a clear front-runner – Cardinals Angelo Scola, Odilo Scherer and Marc Ouellet perhaps – capable of winning two-thirds of the votes.

What dramas play out in the Sistine Chapel and in the conversations taking place back in the cardinals' "hotel" we may not find out for months, but Vatican observers, for perhaps the first time ever, are not discounting the Americans, and that in itself is a big deal.

Greg Erlandson is OSV president and publisher.