Collegiality, collaboration will be Francis’ hallmarks

    Since the surprise election of Cardinal Bergoglio as Pope Francis, have you been able to read and learn more about him?
    Yes. I’ve been reading the releases on the Vatican Information Service, and I’ve been reading stories in the newspapers and on several websites. I’ve gotten to know a good bit about him. I would describe him as a man of deep faith who is willing to be who he is and who is comfortable being different.
    We’ve noticed that while he has a prepared text, he likes to put the text aside and speak off the cuff as if he wants to speak heart-to-heart.
    I noticed that. I also get the message from what he said that we must be unified as brothers in Christ, and we travel this path together. He has emphasized that he needs the guidance and leadership of the cardinals and the bishops, and it’s through that mutual ministry together and through that abiding respect that he will be able to provide leadership for the church, which she deserves. He has spoken in a very collegial way. He seems very comfortable with the cardinals. He’s also not afraid to show his humility and his keen sense of humor. The night he was elected and then presented to the world in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican officials had a car for him and he said, “Oh, no, I’ll just go back on the bus with the cardinals.” He socialized and had dinner with them at the Santa Marthae residence, and he apparently told the cardinals, “I hope God forgives you for what you did to me today!” He has a sense of humor, he’s comfortable with the cardinals and I think he’s comfortable with himself. He’s comfortable knowing that he is a disciple of the Lord, first of all, and loved by God. He has been given this Petrine ministry as the successor of Peter, and it seems as though he is willing to carry it out not exactly as his predecessors have done, but with the same spirit. At the same time, he has a willingness to be different and to make it his own.
    We know he is a person who pays his own bills.
    I was really touched by that. When he went to St. Mary Major Basilica to pray, he said he did not want a large entourage or a big limousine, just a regular service car. And after he went to St. Mary Major, he saw some kids playing on the playground, and he sent word over to them that the pope said hello, and he gave them his blessing. Then he went to the residence where he was living before the conclave and where he had left some of his personal belongings. He went to pick up his luggage, and he paid his bill. Now, I’d like to know how much the bill was and I’d like to know if they took his money or if he paid by credit card. But just the humble gesture of picking up his own luggage and paying his own bill says a lot about this man. And everything that you read about him from Argentina constantly talks about a man who was among the people. I believe he will be a pope among the people.
    At one of his first gatherings as Pope Francis, he told the cardinals that if the church is not confessing Jesus to the world, it can run the danger of almost becoming a “pitiful NGO.”
    He said at the very heart of who we are, we must preach and confess Jesus. He also said in our charity, we cannot just be charitable organizations, but we must use our charity as an opportunity to witness to the love of Christ and to be able to see that love of Christ in our sisters and brothers.
    It almost seems as though Pope Francis is hard for anyone to peg or put in a category.
    I think it’s going to take a long time before we’re really able to figure out who he is. We know that he is a holy man, a man of deep faith, and he certainly is a leader. But he doesn’t fit the ordinary mold of someone that we have been used to in terms of being the pope. So, it’s going to take us six months, I suspect, to be able to see the kind of pope he will be. I have no doubt he will carry on the richness of our tradition, but there’s nothing written in stone that it has to be done in a certain fashion, and he’s made it very clear that he’s willing to do it in a fashion that is still faithful to the tradition of the church, but comfortable for him, and in a way that speaks to the signs of our times.
    He’s also talked to the cardinals that they be willing to share the “wisdom of the elders.” He’s been through a lot himself with all the upheavals in Argentina.
    I believe he does have a lot to share, and we will see that shared with eagerness and enthusiasm. What I’ve read into what he’s said already is that he cannot do it alone. He needs God and he needs his brother cardinals as well as the bishops, clergy, religious and the laity. He has used the image that we’re on the path together. That’s obviously a path of life that leads us to faith and charity, especially to the poor, and a path that ultimately leads us to the kingdom of heaven.