We have a Pope!

A Bad Prophet is not a Good Look

Pope Alexander Borgia succeeded in removing his chief critic Savonarola by having him burnt at the stake - not for his attacks on the Pope's simony and corruption, but because of a failed prophecy. So I look back at my previous blog a little nervously. Wrong on all my papal guesses.

Pope Francis bears absolutely no resemblance to Malachy's final Pope - Peter the Roman.
I am sure we are all secretly relieved - especially the makers of papal souvenirs who can still hope for several rounds of medals, t-shirts and stamps in the future.

For now the Malachy supporters have noticed that he did leave an "out" in his predictions. One can interpret that after the poetically listed 265 popes he introduces the last pope in such a way that could suggest that  (after an uncertain number of Popes following the 265th and at a time of great persecution of the Church) there will reign Peter the Roman and then (at this imprecise point in history) Rome will be destroyed and the Great Judge will come.

Pope Francis

Now I remember Jorge ( our correspondent says with amnesic murmurings ) from the last conclave. Then there were four favourites - The Jew, the Muslim, the Hitler Youth and the Saint. The Archbishop of Paris always referred to himself as a Jew first and a Christian by conviction. The African Cardinal had spent his first few years as a Muslim and converted in early childhood. The Hitler Youth we know and before his election the closest contender ( so we are told now from the leak proof Sistine Chapel) stood aside to assist him to the way of white smoke. That was the Saint who, though a Cardinal, rode around his city on a bicycle, caught local buses and worked among the poorest of the poor. 

And here he is again and we might say here he is at last. Alleluia!

Brother Sun Sister Moon

So now the world is asking who is Francis I ? And the young are asking who was the first Francis? So it's time to read 14th century manuscript "The Little Flowers of Saint Francis" or get a visual grab by watching Zeffirelli's movie "Brother Sun Sister Moon" -  the story of the two  great Church reformers of the early 13th century - Francis of Assisi and Clare of Assisi.

Its no accident that Jorge Bergoglio has chosen the name Francis. It is a total antithesis of the grand roles played by many of the Popes who filled not only the footprints of Peter but also the shoes of the Roman Emperor and the pagan Roman sandals of the high priest Pontifex Maximus. The moment of the meeting between Francis and the Pope is wonderfully portrayed in Visconti's movie. Now that meeting is being lived out in the elevation of the new Pope Francis. In a sense, as shown in the movie, the Papacy has been humbled in him and may now return to its real task of helping the poor and saving the world.

Pope Francis has already made the poor and the environment his main focus. Alleluia!

Here in Giotto's painting, Saint Francis sees it no less a duty to share his knowledge of God with the birds. Like Gautama Buddha, Francis had a compassion for all sentient beings that opposed the Judo-Christian ethic of man having been given the physical world and all its creatures for his use. A Franciscan world view may help the Pope add a spiritual element to the fight for the environment.

Certainly the simple lifestyle that Francis aspired to is a lifestyle that all mankind must commit to if there is to be a calming of the resource hungry race for luxuries and riches and a socially just distribution of the earth's limited resources.

Good Luck Pope Francis and may you work alongside all women and men of good will who share your vision and the vision of teachers like the Francis who talked to birds, the Christ who saw no crime in plucking the ears of corn beside the road to feed his hungry disciples, the Buddha who saw a crime in killing animals for food and the Mohammad who is rumoured to have taught "if you are planting a tree when the end of the world comes, keep planting the tree."