Francis's spirituality, his humility, his great compassion, and his profound love for the poor, are all well-known, and not even the secular media dare argue otherwise. But some news outlets seem to be confusing His Holiness's age and conservative theological positions with a "business-as-usual" sort of situation. I am confident that they'll soon realize how wrong an assumption that is.
The fact is that Jorge Bergoglio has always been a reformer -- and not a quiet one, at that. He also holds clergy, other religious, and the church itself to extremely high standards -- something he can get away with because he lives those standards himself. He has no patience for hypocrisy, and is not afraid to publicly chastise those in the church whose actions articulate it.
I think Francis is exactly the kind of Pope the Church needs right now. This is going to be an interesting papacy.
-Rich
I'm anxious to read more about him. Two interesting points so far:
1. He is not part of the Curia (the Vatican inner circle). I think that may be a good thing, especially given that many believe that the Curia needs reform.
2. He's a Jesuit.
When I was growing up, my dad gave me school choice: Notre Dame High School (Priests and brother of the Congregation of the Holy Cross) or Loyola Academy (The Jesuits). At that time, the Jesuits were known as the sandal clad, pony tail wearing liberal order of priests. Today, the same, with a few less pony tails.
Fast forward a lot of years, and I had to tell a friend, Father Bill, a Holy Cross priest, that my daughter was not going to the University of Notre Dame (run by the Congregation of the Holy Cross), but was attending the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, which is run by the Jesuits. (Stick with me here - confusing, I know.)
Bill, who is a pretty funny guy, said "That's OK. Just don't let her convert."
OK, I guess you had to be there.
But back to Pope Francis. I understand that he has been known to challenge some the more liberal wing of the Jesuit order. I'm anxious to learn more about that.