Catholic Church Looks to New World

Fordham University Theology Chairman Dr. Terrence Tilley discusses the election of Pope Francis and the challenges he will face. Pope Francis is the first Pope to come from the Americas. Photo: Getty Images.

VATICAN CITY�The Roman Catholic Church's leaders elected their new pope Wednesday in a day that was rich in ritual but broke with tradition�placing the world's 1.2 billion Catholics under the direction of a Jesuit from the New World, both firsts in Christianity's 2,000-year history.

Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires, emerged on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica here Wednesday evening and was introduced as Pope Francis. A crowd of more than 100,000 pilgrims in the square below sounded cheers of "Viva il Papa" as he urged a "great fraternity" for the global church.

His election places the church under the leadership of a man who is known less as an educator or intellectual, as was his predecessor, than as a humble and mild-mannered shepherd of his flock. The choice of a man who has shunned the lofty trappings of a cardinal�and has spent relatively little time in the corridors of the Vatican�is likely to have broad resonance at a time when Catholicism has been losing credibility and followers in many parts of the world.

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The selection of the first pontiff from the Americas is the second groundbreaking event for the Catholic Church in a month. Pope Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI, stepped down on Feb. 28�the first pontiff in more than six centuries to resign from a position traditionally held until death.

Pope Francis immediately embraced his mission as shepherd in Rome and the world. Appearing with outstretched arms on St. Peter's main balcony, he led the pilgrims below in the Lord's Prayer and then asked them for a favor: a moment of prayer for him. He also joked with the crowd about how far he had come to be their pope.

“Brothers and sisters, good evening. � Good night, and have a good rest.” Pope Francis' Greeting and Last Words to the Crowd Wednesday

"As you know, the duty of the conclave is to give Rome a bishop," he said. "It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the earth to find him."

The choice was cheered throughout the Americas. His ascent is "a great thing for the United States and for Latin America," said Thomas Wenski, the archbishop of Miami, at a news conference. "All of us that live in the Americas, we have a greater freedom a lot of times than people in Europe or more traditional societies."

His election also breaks new ground for the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits, a religious order renowned for its rigorous intellectual inquiry and skepticism of authority and hierarchy. St. Ignatius of Loyola, the order's founder, "didn't want Jesuits to be bishops, because he didn't want prestige and power associated with it," said the Rev. Joseph Fessio. "He wanted them to work as priests."

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Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press

'As you know, the duty of the conclave is to give Rome a bishop. It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the earth to find him.' Pope Francis, greeting crowds at St. Peter's Square on Wednesday

What is unclear is whether the new pope, who has no experience with the central administration of the Vatican, will be adept in tackling some of the problems that face the so-called Curia�the Vatican's central administration that has long been seen as ineffective in governing Catholicism's sprawl.

A recent scandal, in which secret documents were leaked to Italian media, has exposed rifts among top Vatican officials. A tug of war within the Vatican hierarchy over the management of the Vatican bank, and its efforts to meet international standards on issues such as anti-money-laundering laws, has unearthed divisions within the Church's administration.

The Name of the (Holy) Father

The new pope will be faced with an immediate decision when he is elected: What name will he adopt?

More broadly, the church is buffeted by challenges including the rise of Islam and the emptying of pews in Europe. The new pontiff will also need to tackle continuing reverberations from the church's scandal over sexual abuse of children by priests�incidents that date back a decade or more but have come to light in explosive revelations during the papacy of Benedict XVI.

Some critics say the sex-abuse scandal hasn't effectively been dealt with because the former pope and the Curia stopped short of requiring bishops around the world to report allegations of sexual abuse to civil authorities.

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