Habemus Papam!

We have a pope! Habemus Papam

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina is now Pope Francis I of Rome and the Universal Pope.

As an announcement was made over the intercom at my office Catholics rushed to the library for a live stream of the event.  More than an hour later cups of wine were raised in the air as a toast to our new Shepherd. 

I have never experienced this day before.  Our previous Pope, Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus, was the 265th Pope.  He was elected on April 19, 2005.  Umm, I was alive then.  I was a sophomore in college!  I should have felt what I'm feeling today on April 19, 2005.  But I didn't.

I guess you can never be good at faith.  When you say "you have such great faith!" to someone, you know they are rolling their eyes at you and thinking to themselves "No, I don't."  It's called humility.  But it's also true.  Faith is a practice.  You work at it, you get better at it, but you never accomplish it!  Hopefully on your death bed you will accomplish it.  But holy people, priests, nuns, lay people, deacons....they are all practicing their faith.  (You Yogi's know what I'm talking about).

So today when a Deacon's wife screamed over the intercom "What have white smoke!  We have white smoke!"  I felt like my sister just told me she was going into labor.  (none of my sisters are pregnant.)  But this anticipation of a new life, a birth, an unknown full of love and dignity.  My heart was racing, my stomach was filled with butterflies.  My Lord, My God.  You have come to us.  You have come to your faithful.

And can I just say how totally awesome the Church is?  Say what you want about 'old fashioned' and 'tradition'.  But three points:

1. NO ONE KNEW who the next Pope was going to be.  There was no leak, only respect.  There was no amount of money for the first news station to translate or get the first photo.  The Church doesn't need money.  It needs faithful Catholics.  The media had to have video, facts and figures on all 115 cardinals who where in the Papal conclave.  For once the media didn't get to make up the news.  They had to work, research and be prepared.  I think that's called journalism.  I'm not sure, I was only the producer of my high school TV station...
2. It took 2 days.  It wasn't on our time.  It was on God's time.  US Presidents start lying to us, I mean running for election, two years before they are elected.  What a waste of time!  Do your job right and you'll be elected!  The Church picks the leaders from all over the world, all demographics, all walks of life to cast a vote on the new leader of the Church.  Why?  Well, because contrary to politics, the Pope is the boss of the Cardinals who are in charge of the Bishops, who lead the Priests and the Deacons...etc. It's a hierarchy, they obey and it works.  But really the only job of the Pope is to pray for the Church.  Cardinals, Bishops and Priests are going to do what they need to do for their faithful, and the Pope just keeps praying they do God's will.  Our president prays on what?  National Prayer Day?  Actually, I know the Texas Legislature prays before every meeting, so maybe our government does pray.  They just don't put that in the news.
3. and  Latin is back.  Pope Francis I is from Latin America.  So believe it or not this means he is an American Pope!  Maybe not YOUR version of America.  But he's an American pope.  And there are a lot of people in the United States of America who can relate to him.  South Americans and Central Americans are already saying "He's like me!". Embrace it.  Another kind of Latin is back too: the Latin language!  When the world needs a universal language, I can very well see Latin becoming just that.  The Cathedral in my town have many portions of its mass in Latin.  It makes the ceremony seem very universal, which is that the Church is.  Universal.

Next time there is a pope elected, which will totally happen in my lifetime, I will have learned Latin and Italian so that I can listen to our Pope and understand his message.  Even though, this time, I was listening through a translator but still felt his message of peace, humility and evangelization. 

Visit the National Catholic Register to see what happens behind the scenes of the papel election. 
Also, boycott main stream media when it comes to your faith.  The  Da Vinci Code is fiction.  The Secret is FICTION.  Don't base your faith (or lack there of) on stories.  The Church has a huge network of apologetics who study the Church and can answer all questions and concerns.  Get your information from: http://www.catholic.org/  an up-to-date, seriously hip and informational website.   And pray often!

O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all Your faithful people, mercifully look upon Your servant Pope Francis I, whom You have chosen as the chief Shepherd to preside over Your Church. We beg You to help him edify, both by word and example, those over whom he has charge, that he may reach everlasting life together with the flock entrusted to him. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Living Life to the Fullest and praying for Pope Francis I.