It appears the electors opted for a complete outsider who may provide the external eye on reforming the Curia, the Vatican’s all-powerful bureaucracy
The Roman Catholic Church, whose institutional underpinnings are under threat, has chosen a field man to lead the flock. Argentina’s 76-year-old Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who assumed the name of Francis on being elected at the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, becomes the first Jesuit to head the Vatican.
Francis rose from being a parish priest. He has never been a part of the Curia, the Vatican’s all-powerful bureaucracy, which is thought to be embroiled in corruption and power politics, a trend that Pope Benedict XVI, who tendered his resignation citing physical infirmity recently, had been unable to curb.
The new Pope’s assumption of the name of Francis, Christendom’s beloved saint from Assisi who took the vow of poverty, is perhaps just the message the Catholic universe of 1.2 billion is looking for. The papacy has become a European institution in the past 1,200 years, although the members of the church are overwhelmingly from the global South that is steeped in poverty. The election of Cardinal Bergoglio changes that trend at last.
Francis was born in Argentina of immigrant working-class Italian parents. This maintains the European link but there can be no question that the working mind of the Pope cannot be anything other than that of a man of God running the diocese of the poor. The signal might have been a shade different had the voting cardinals found their man in Asia or Africa. An African cardinal was thought to be in the reckoning. But it appears the electors opted for a complete outsider who may provide the external eye on reforming the Curia.
The Pope has to provide the environment to extend the gospel. This has been vitiated in recent times. Stories of sexual abuse abound. The ideology of secularism in Western society undermines faith. Evangelical groups that compete with the Catholic Church have gained influence in the southern hemisphere. The Curia is said to be in serious need of reform. The management of the Vatican Bank is believed to lack transparency, and is well behind international banking norms. Taken even individually, each is a serious challenge. Collectively, these can be destabilising. Can a 76-year-old manage to turn things around? When the last Pope stepped down, citing age and health, many wondered if a relatively younger man was needed at this juncture. May be the 266th Pope has it in him, given his personality and spartan outlook.
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