Pope Francis, formerly Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina

As two of my coworkers, my aunt's husband on one side of the family, my aunt and cousins on the other side of the family, and several close friends are Catholic--and because the election of the new spiritual leader of 1.8 billion people worldwide is kind of a big deal, not to mention the election of a new major head of state--I got very lucky and refreshed right when the white smoke appeared, which means none of us got any work done for about an hour while we watched the live feed on my phone for the naming and emergence of the new pope.

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, of Argentina, the first Latino pope, the first from the Western Hemisphere, the first non-European since the election of St. Gregory of Syria in 731, and the first Jesuit ever to be sit on the papal throne. And also, the second pope in over a thousand years to choose a totally new name. And what a name.

About
Pope Francis on Wikipedia
Who is Pope Francis on NPR

Record
Positions on Moral and Political Issues - no surprises on his social conservatism to be found, but his stance on economic injustice and poverty make some really interesting reading, especially in context of his history.

Human Rights/Controvery
Questions remain over Pope Francis’ role during Argentina’s dictatorship
'Dirty War' Questions For Pope Francis

(Note: The use of 'Dirty War' is apparently extremely questionable, so I'm only using it here because it's in the title of the article.)

Origin of Name

CNN Vatican analyst: Pope Francis' name choice 'precedent shattering'

Pope Francis chose his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi because he is a lover of the poor, said Vatican deputy spokesman Thomas Rosica.

Above and beyond everything else, I'm very curious about a man who takes his name from Francis of Assisi, patron of the poor and disenfranchised and--right, here it gets interesting:

After a pilgrimage to Rome, where he joined the poor in begging at the doors of the churches, he said he had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the country chapel of San Damiano, just outside of Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified said to him, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins."

I don't even know if it's possible to adequately comment on that.

Question: does anyone have an English language reference or workable summary for the Aparecida Document? I mean, this was from 2007 condemning child abuse, child exploitation, and child prostitution as demographic terrorism, which is a term I haven't heard before, and even if it's introduced as culturally (in general) a problem, the timing on its release is kind of breathtaking.

Comments

[brownbetty]

I have heard reference to his collusion in government human rights abuses? I don't know if my skepticism on this is a natural reluctance to believe the worst, or because the idea of someone who could justify that to himself in the papacy scares me shitless.

[seperis]

Wikipedia had reference to a 2005 suit brought against him here. I've been skimming articles to see if anyone else refers to it.

[malkingrey]

The other thing that was going on in 2005, apparently, was that he was one of the front-running papabile in the election of a successor to JPII (some sources claim he was almost elected, but Ratzinger got the required number of ballots first) . . . which doesn't necessarily make the charges part of a deliberate smear campaign, but is certainly interesting timing.

[seperis]

Oh, forgot to mention:

I don't know if my skepticism on this is a natural reluctance to believe the worst, or because the idea of someone who could justify that to himself in the papacy scares me shitless.

I'm not seeing enough detail to get an idea of what he might have actually done actively as opposed to either ignoring or trying not to get attention during the dictatorship in question.

More here

And here

[blueraccoon]

I'm actually surprised that we haven't had a Pope Francis before. But I don't know much about the Catholic Church so there may be a valid reason? I don't know.

[seperis]

From what I've read on the name choice, using Francis isn't quite as dramatic a statement as naming yourself after Peter, but it's up there. Papal names are already loaded since they can indicate a lot about what traditions the pope in question plans to follow, especially when we're talking about early activist popes; choosing their names is a kind of declaration of either agreement or continuation of their work/theology. So choosing a name not only with no papal tradition but one based on a hugely important and formative person within the Catholic Church is, well, different.

Yes, I have been reading a lot about this.

[alexseanchai]

His parents were Italian immigrants to Argentina, so I contest 'Latino'.

[seperis]

He was born in Argentina and speaks Spanish as his mother tongue. Being white doesn't exclude Latino as a identity, but being Latino also doesn't make him less white.

[alexseanchai]

Fair point.

[seperis]

I double checked on Latino myself to be sure, so your challenge was completely justified. I'd be personally more wary using it freely if it was--for example--a first generation descendent from South America in the US, but honestly, in the US it's so much more complicated with immigration from Mexico that I'm not sure how that would work without a lot more reading.

Thanks for commenting!

[lilacsigil]

http://www.celam.org/aparecida/Ingles.pdf

This is the official English translation published by the Catholic Mission Association.

I assumed he was naming himself after famous Jesuit St Francis Xavier, but everyone seems to be going for the St Francis of Assisi interpretation. It does fit with the vow of poverty and his focus on economic injustice, I suppose.

[seperis]

According to the Official Vatican Source, it's Francis of Assisi he's going for in this case.

Here we go:
CNN Vatican analyst: Pope Francis' name choice 'precedent shattering' - the Vatican deputy spokesman confirmed the origin of the name

[lilacsigil]

Thanks for the link!

[brownbetty]

Yeah, I had assumed F.X. too, which would have been the less loaded choice.

[petronia]

Thanks for this!

[out_there]

I think my rather dodgy not-all-that-interested-in-my-church Catholicism is showing. I'm very "Oh, who?" about it, but I like the name choice. Mostly because I'm remember St Francis of Assisi from my childhood as being one of the animal-loving saints (and then I had to google to be sure he was the patron saint of small animals).

In times of serious political change, you can trust me to only vaguely be aware of it. *g*

[jamethiel]

It's not just Francis of Assisi, but Francis Xavier and Francis Borgia as well. Both very highly regarded Jesuits who adhered closely to the principles of the order. A hopeful sign.

The theological conservatism doesn't surprise me--but he's NOT part of the Curia (which Ratzinger was) and this devotion to social justice is one of the most surprising things I've seen in years.

[petronia]

The translation of this is super interesting -- seems like 2005 was pretty dramatic: http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/vaticano/dettaglio-articolo/articolo/conclave-22761/

[jetsilver]

I offer with no commentary because I don't know any, but this went by on my dash yesterday:

Shakesville - Pope Francis and his history in Argentina.