On today in 2013, a papal conclave elected Jorge Mario Bergoglioto to succeed Pope Benedict XVI as the 266th pope of the Catholic Church. He was the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, the first Jesuit, and the first to decide on the title Francesco — Pope Francis — in honor of St. Francis of Assisi (1181 – 1226). He was named Person of the Year by Time journal in 2013 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the following 12 months.
Since his election, Pope Francis has delivered talks, writings, and encyclicals which have shaken the Catholic Church and provoked dialogue amongst non secular folks and secularists of all stripes. He believes we’re at a turning level in human historical past the place we should ditch the widespread financial inequality in our society, the scandal of starvation, and the exploitation of the setting. These developments are the foundations of the “tradition of waste” which has now develop into not solely discarding of meals but in addition the shameful remedy of the setting.
Pope Francis heralds the risk that ladies and men of good will can contribute to the dream of “an ecological citizenship,” caring for nature and all beings by means of love. His personal easy life-style compared to the manner of life of his predecessors fashions this imaginative and prescient; as an illustration, he lives in the Domus Sanctae Marthae visitor home at the Vatican reasonably than the Apostolic Palace. He leads by instance to name folks to a prophetic and contemplative life-style, reconciliation, hope, and a spirit of welcome.
In his public life, Pope Francis takes questions from folks from all walks of life, responding to farmers and employees, refugees, youngsters and the aged, jail inmates and people who stay in shantytowns. Wim Wenders, director of the documentary movie Pope Francis — A Man of His Word, describes Pope Francis as somebody who “actually has his arms extensive open for everybody.”
To Name This Day . . .
Quotes
Here are a number of of the memorable issues that Pope Francis stated in Pope Francis — A Man of His Word. Choose one of these quotes to be your guideline at the moment.
“God’s love is the similar for each particular person. No matter what your faith, even for an atheist, it is the similar love.”
“If you ask me who’s the poorest of the poorest of the poor, I might say Mother Earth. We have plundered her. We have abused her.”
Speaking to prisoners: “Your weariness and your wounds are additionally the wounds of a complete society.”
“Differences scare us, as a result of they make us develop.”
“We have a lot to do — and we should do it collectively.”
Spiritual Practices
“Tenderness isn’t weak point. It is energy!” Pope Francis exclaims in Wenders’ documentary. “Tenderness makes us use our eyes to see the different, our ears to listen to the different, to hearken to the cries of the youngsters, the poor, those that are afraid of the future. To additionally hearken to the silent cry of our frequent residence, our sick and polluted Earth.”
Today, discover a approach to present tenderness to somebody: a member of the family, a buddy, somebody you have newly met, somebody distant, an animal, a plant. You might need to use Pope Francis’ description above for steering. Tenderness usually takes the kind of listening to others’ cries and fears, a listening which extends to the wants of our Earth herself. Your personal wants deserve your tenderness, too.
