The flag of Argentina
Pope Francis opened his first morning as pontiff by praying Thursday at Rome’s main basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
So what does the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio mean?
For starters, he’s the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to rise to the papacy.
He is also a humble man who lives simply and took the name Francis (a first) that evokes the founder of another great religious order, says our own David Gibson.
But there’s also a decades-old controversy surrounding his involvement in the kidnappings of two Jesuit priests in his native Argentina.
Jews worldwide welcomed newly elected Pope Francis as a friend and pointed to his sympathetic reaction to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in his native Argentina — the deadliest bombing in the country’s history.
Francis’ election will help the reputation and morale of a region that has languished in relative obscurity, except when depicted as a fount of drugs (Colombia), deforestation (Brazil) and demagoguery (Hugo Chavez of Veneuzula), says Rick Hampson of USA Today.
The pope’s election means Catholics and evangelicals need to remain allied against the increasingly aggressive secularism of our age, says onetime presidential candidate Gary Bauer, president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families.
The moment Pope Francis I stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Wednesday, vendors of all things papal went into overdrive to manufacture prayer cards, key chains, mugs, t-shirts and other pope-related souvenirs.
The new pope may cook, but NPR says he’s no foodie. Fruit, skinless chicken and salads are all favorites.
And, as the new pope prepared to deliver his first ever address, the lower house of Argentina’s National Congress was holding a ceremony to honor Hugo Chávez.
There’s an English language website devoted to sermons and sayings of the new pope. Study up.
But how much does it matter? More evidence today of Americans’ declining religious affiliation. The General Social Survey shows the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation is the highest its been since the 1930s — 20 percent.
The Pew Forum, examining the same data, concludes that the percentage of U.S. Catholics who consider themselves “strong” members of the Roman Catholic Church has never been lower.
Church-state expert Melissa Rogers will be the new director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S. is inevitable, according to a study by LifeWay Research, a Nashville polling firm with ties to the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Rev. Franklin Graham and other leading evangelical figures are backing efforts to require background checks for all gun purchases, providing hope for stalled congressional efforts to enact elements of President Barack Obama’s gun control plan, Time Magazine reports.
Compassion International announced that Jim Mellado, president of the Willow Creek Association, a ministry that serves local churches, will become its new president and CEO.
Change of venue: Following objections, a panel discussion on whether Israel is a democracy has been moved from a Conservative New York City synagogue to an LGBT synagogue, also in Manhattan.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a priest sex abuse case.
RNS blogger Jonathan Merritt asks Rob Bell whether God has a gender.
And finally, punishment works. When trying to achieve a certain result, a reprimand can work as well as a reward, a group of researchers at the University of Nottingham found.
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5 Comments
Thursday Religion News Roundup: Pope Francis * Declining affiliations * Background checks | THINKING PRESBYTERIAN | Scoop.it
[...] The flag of Argentina Pope Francis opened his first morning as pontiff by praying Thursday at Rome’s main basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary. So what does the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio mean? [...]
John McGrath
Why do you presume the new pope chose the name Francis after Francis of Assisi?
It is just as likely that he chose the name after the Jesuit Francis Xavier,the great missionary to India and the East, perhaps indicating that the church has shifted to the south (him) and the east (his name), away from Europe to the lands that were once missionary lands but are now the core of the church.
Actually, given who he is, he probably had both Francises in mind.
Dr frank-Collins Nnamdi Okafor
I thank God for the successful succession to the throne of St. Peter. The Election of Pope Francis is a clear manifestation of how the Holy Spirit works. He emerged from nowhere and garnered a tremendous support against those that were front-runners. God is at work indeed. I’m happy too because my Patron Saint is the founder of His Holiness’ Order
Frank-Collins Okafor PhD
GordonHide
Well, given Francis’ conservatism I guess it’s more of the same and I guess that means further decline in Western 1st world countries.
Kevan Scott
Good RNS roundup today! Marx said religion is the opiate of the people. How right he was about that. New Pope, same as the old Pope and true Christ things like feeding the poor clothing the naked, healing the sick etc will get futher ignored in this conservatism race to the bottom. As far as Graham and friends are concerned they’ll support the President yet in public excoriate him for being the socialist, Kenyan, liberal, which, to my and others dismay is simply not true. Then again, he has to work with withthese RWNJ’s and somehow keep this gov’t running in this sequestration nightmare on Main Street. I don’t envy him at all for that. If the Christ were here in America today he would be more than amazed that His church has so soon forgotten their first love and replaced it with a theology of hate towards anyone not like them. There, all better now! Thanks RNS for letting me vent a bit! Much better and I’ll even wish Pope Francis all the best!