The first Pope not from Europe.
Of course the center of gravity of the Roman Catholic Church is no longer Europe. The largest Catholic populations in the world are to be found in Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines (culturally a piece of Latin America) and the US before one gets to France, Italy, and back to Colombia.
It was only a matter of time. I figured that there was a high probability of the current Pope to come from Latin America. The Catholic Church in the USA has just too many scandals.
So far I like the street credentials of this Pope. He has adopted the style of one of the most honored of Saints, Francis of Assisi and has shown signs of rejection of pointless luxury. I hope that this Holy Father can challenge poverty as effectively as John Paul II addressed the degrading and dehumanizing vileness that is Communism. Sure he is very much a traditionalist, but in my experience the people most capable of forcing benign change upon corrupt institutions are those who respect traditions and use them as pretexts for challenging corruption and other institutional perversity. People who believe in nothing fall for anything.
The Catholic Church has much to address in itself, including child sexual abuse by priests who have violated not only human decency but their vows of celibacy and obedience. But it has influence beyond itself. Can it challenge the disease of drugs with the corruption, terrorism, and perverse cash flow that drugs generate? Can it challenge the greed and excess of American plutocracy?
I am not and have never been a Roman Catholic, by the way.
