Quite a day, wasn't it?
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 certainly was a newsworthy day for Canadians. Astronaut Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian to command the International Space Station. The 53 year old has quite a media presence, with over half a million Twitter followers. Since arriving at the I.S.S. last December 21, he has been sending out photographs, writing songs, and conducting interviews, all raising awareness among Canadians of the immensity and beauty of space.
And there was the memorial service in Peterborough for the late Stompin' Tom Connors, Canadian singer/songwriter, which was attended by thousands. It was broadcast live on CPAC and Tom's hat, order of Canada medal, guitar, and piece of plywood were all there. Adrienne Clarkson read a letter sent by Romeo Dallaire, commander of the U.N. forces during the Rwandan genocide, who told the story of playing Stompin' Tom's We Are the Blue Berets when his forces were under fire and how it raised their spirits. "We shall stand between the mighty and the frail."
And of course, habemus papam.
Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina was elected pope on the fifth ballot. He took the name Francis I, after the late 12th/early 13th century Italian saint from Assisi, Italy, who renounced his privileged existence for a life of service and poverty. This was taken as a good sign, by not only the large crowd in St. Peter's Square, but also by the international commentariat. His humbly asking for the crowd's prayers and blessing was also positively received. So far, so good.
But Pope Francis has a lot on his plate. He's a Jesuit, another first, and is concerned with taking the gospel to the poor and broken. He must try to bridge the gap between liberal and conservative Catholics globally, but keep in mind that the Church is growing more quickly in Africa, Asia, and to a lesser extent, South America. He also has Church administration to clean up.
That brings up the cliques within the Curia. Pope Benedict commissioned a panel of cardinals to investigate the theft of documents from his desk a year ago. Of course, his butler did it, but rumour has it that their investigation uncovered a homosexual ring within the Curia, among other things. That report was kept from the conclave until the new pope was elected. And of course there are still the issues of pedophile priests and other sexual abusers, divorce, contraception, abortion, gay marriage, priestly celibacy, and female priests. Not to say that Francis has to deal with all of these issues, but some of them do require attention sooner rather than later.
I predict that Pope Benedict will have one lasting effect on the Church: his decision to resign at age 85. The cardinals who chose 76 year old Cardinal Bergoglio must relinquish that right at age 80. Pope Francis has eight, maybe nine years to fulfill his mission.
