Pope Francis

[Lex]

What does everyone think about the new Pope? It looks like he could bring a few changes to the Catholic church.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21781125

[cathidaw]

sounds like a nice chap.
Could live for years despite his age,. He must be a tough old boot to live for those many years with only one lung.
Good luck to him.

[Dun Scotus]

Speaking as a Catholic, I hope these comments might be helpful to others on the site who mean well, but may not have any religious affiliation.
The Pope who has just been elected is a Jesuit. This was an order of the church that was created in the 16th century by a great saint of the church called St. Ignatius Loyola, who was former soldier. The Jesuits are well known in the church for having a particular kind of spirituality which is very intense and very inner directed.
They are also radically commited to the poor, especially in South America and Africa.
I think its pretty obvious for most obervers whether they are religious or not, to see that we have one or two issues in the Catholic Church.
For me in common with millions of other Catholics, we very much want this Pope to start tackling these issues. Frankly, they overwhelmed his predecessor, which is why he retired.
One thing perhaps I should say, not on the religious side, is that the Pope and the church is very much the representative of everything we know and understand, western culture, language, and history to be. The Pope represents in a sense everyone who believes in that culture and those values. He must now start to defend those values against the terrible attacks that are being made on them by the media andthe politicians.
We Catholics realize that it is a desperate battle we are in to defend culture and values and we hope every well meaning person, whatever their religious view would support us.
He is a very humble man obviously. I saw a wonderful photgraph yesterday in an American paper of him travelling on the underground in Buenos Aires with a man sitting next to him absolutely engrossed in what he was saying.

[Lex]

I feel I don't know enough about Pope Francis to make a judgement about him yet. However, as an agnostic with a Church of England background, there's a lot about Catholic doctrine that doesn't sit with me 100% comfortably (I can say the same about the CofE too!), but I stand by the (wider) church and Christianity as still being an important part of British & European culture and history.

[Shizara]

Dun Scotus, thank you for the insight that you provided for us.

From the little I have seen and read he strikes me as being a humble man. There are some huge issues that cannot just be swept under the carpet and camouflaged with the use of smoke and mirrors. It will take someone with a strong sense of direction, a sense of purpose, commitment and dedication to take the lead in dealing with these things in a Christian manner. This will be no easy task and there will be many mountains to climb. Just like walking through jungles and climbing mountains there will likely be traps for the unwary, there might also be those who will want to prevent such a course of action.

[Lex]

Not forgetting it's all change at the top of the Anglican Church as well!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21875199