Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:
Habemus PapamFranciscum
Pope Francis - 265th Successor to St. Peter
The pundits were momentarily silenced.
This name had not featured strongly on their list of Habemus Papabili. Great
qualities for a Pope they said but too old and so he was summarily dismissed as
a possible candidate to the Papacy.
They talked about the big, exuberant, hearty, larger than life Cardinal Timothy Dolan, there were other names that came up like Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines, Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Austria , Cardinal Sean O'Malley of the United States and others. It is safe to say that he did not feature in anyone's top ten list of Habemus Papabili.
I, like millions of others, had been waiting for some hours for the name of our new Papa to be announced. I dozed for a few minutes and woke up suddenly to hear the name , "Francesco, " What on earth! I thought as I stumbled out of the bed a little dazed into the living room. I was watching EWTN on the small T.V. screen in the bedroom and decided to watch it on the larger flat screen TV in the living room. Dissatisfied with the commentary of the clueless newscasters doing their best to pretend they knew what they were talking about, I returned back to watch the historical events play out on EWTN.
The red curtain opened and he stepped out into the balcony and gazed silently at the crowd. What is he thinking? I wondered. Why is he silent? What are his thoughts? Why won't he say something? Then I realized that he was looking at the crowd of over 100,000 people jammed in St. Peter's Square. The faithful, the Church, alive, young vibrant - they were there to greet him, to welcome him as our new Papa, to embrace him, to love him and he was taking it all in. Here is the Church he must have thought and I am called to be their Shepherd. "Buona sera, buona sera," he said to the rapt crowd and they erupted in joyful cheers. We have a Papa once more we are no longer orphans.
He prayed for the first time as our Pontiff and they were the familiar well known and well-loved simple prayers - the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be and he offered these prayers for our beloved, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Any hearts not stolen up until then were most certainly stolen now. I know he stole mine.
He then said: "And now I would like to give the blessing, but first I want to ask you a favor. Before the bishop blesses the people, I ask that you would pray to the Lord to bless me — the prayer of the people for their Bishop. Let us say this prayer — your prayer for me — in silence. ..." and bowing his head humbly we prayed our most heartfelt prayers that the Lord may bless him with wisdom, grace, strength, courage and all the gifts and charisms he will require to lead the Church that Christ had founded on Peter. He then raised his hands, heart, and voice to the Lord to bless us.
They talked about the big, exuberant, hearty, larger than life Cardinal Timothy Dolan, there were other names that came up like Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines, Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Austria , Cardinal Sean O'Malley of the United States and others. It is safe to say that he did not feature in anyone's top ten list of Habemus Papabili.
I, like millions of others, had been waiting for some hours for the name of our new Papa to be announced. I dozed for a few minutes and woke up suddenly to hear the name , "Francesco, " What on earth! I thought as I stumbled out of the bed a little dazed into the living room. I was watching EWTN on the small T.V. screen in the bedroom and decided to watch it on the larger flat screen TV in the living room. Dissatisfied with the commentary of the clueless newscasters doing their best to pretend they knew what they were talking about, I returned back to watch the historical events play out on EWTN.
The red curtain opened and he stepped out into the balcony and gazed silently at the crowd. What is he thinking? I wondered. Why is he silent? What are his thoughts? Why won't he say something? Then I realized that he was looking at the crowd of over 100,000 people jammed in St. Peter's Square. The faithful, the Church, alive, young vibrant - they were there to greet him, to welcome him as our new Papa, to embrace him, to love him and he was taking it all in. Here is the Church he must have thought and I am called to be their Shepherd. "Buona sera, buona sera," he said to the rapt crowd and they erupted in joyful cheers. We have a Papa once more we are no longer orphans.
He prayed for the first time as our Pontiff and they were the familiar well known and well-loved simple prayers - the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be and he offered these prayers for our beloved, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Any hearts not stolen up until then were most certainly stolen now. I know he stole mine.
He then said: "And now I would like to give the blessing, but first I want to ask you a favor. Before the bishop blesses the people, I ask that you would pray to the Lord to bless me — the prayer of the people for their Bishop. Let us say this prayer — your prayer for me — in silence. ..." and bowing his head humbly we prayed our most heartfelt prayers that the Lord may bless him with wisdom, grace, strength, courage and all the gifts and charisms he will require to lead the Church that Christ had founded on Peter. He then raised his hands, heart, and voice to the Lord to bless us.
