Habemus Papam: Pope Francis I

 

 

Perhaps, the urgent question is: do we need a triumphalist pope and Church or a self-effacing, humble, kenotic pope and Church? The gestures and the garments give us some clue…

“We have to avoid the spiritual sickness of a self-referential church. It’s true that when you get out into the street, as happens to every man and woman, there can be accidents. However, if the church remains closed in on itself, self-referential, it gets old. Between a church that suffers accidents in the street, and a church that’s sick because it’s self-referential, I have no doubts about preferring the former.”

Pope Francis I (quoted from John Allen’s profile on the former Cardinal)