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habeis/habeant papam
Mar. 14th, 2013 10:20 am(See, I can conjugate too. ;-) )
I was not interested, in the involved sense, in the conclave or the election of the new Pope. But for those of you who are Catholic, I'm pleased that you seem to be pleased with the new guy. On behalf of those of us who are not Catholic, I'm pleased with how fervent he seems to be about social justice issues and how much he seems to loathe this "austerity" we've all heard so much about. (Sharing a little of the great wealth of the church seems a good idea, she said, remembering the shocking poverty visible in the very shadow of St Peter's.) On behalf of those of us educated at least in part by Jesuits, I'm chuffed that he's a Jesuit. (Hoya Saxa!) And I'm fairly impressed that he chose the name Francis. If he really makes himself an instrument (or channel?) of the peace of his (/their/your) God, and repairs the house which is falling into ruins, then, well, marvelous. Literally.
The only thing that displeases me, really, is how often I'm hearing people call him Francis I. I don't care what Pope John Paul I and King Juan Carlos of Spain did - until there's a II you're not I, you just are. I don't think I've heard that he's calling himself The First, but I certainly heard it on the radio this morning from (I believe) Msgr W Ronald Jameson of the Cathedral of St Matthew Apostle here in DC, who ought (I believe) to know better.
I was not interested, in the involved sense, in the conclave or the election of the new Pope. But for those of you who are Catholic, I'm pleased that you seem to be pleased with the new guy. On behalf of those of us who are not Catholic, I'm pleased with how fervent he seems to be about social justice issues and how much he seems to loathe this "austerity" we've all heard so much about. (Sharing a little of the great wealth of the church seems a good idea, she said, remembering the shocking poverty visible in the very shadow of St Peter's.) On behalf of those of us educated at least in part by Jesuits, I'm chuffed that he's a Jesuit. (Hoya Saxa!) And I'm fairly impressed that he chose the name Francis. If he really makes himself an instrument (or channel?) of the peace of his (/their/your) God, and repairs the house which is falling into ruins, then, well, marvelous. Literally.
The only thing that displeases me, really, is how often I'm hearing people call him Francis I. I don't care what Pope John Paul I and King Juan Carlos of Spain did - until there's a II you're not I, you just are. I don't think I've heard that he's calling himself The First, but I certainly heard it on the radio this morning from (I believe) Msgr W Ronald Jameson of the Cathedral of St Matthew Apostle here in DC, who ought (I believe) to know better.
