Papa Francis

It all began on Thursday morning. I woke up and something just felt different. Being the screen-addicted teenager that I am, my immediate reaction was, of course, to check Facebook. Less than 3 minutes earlier, a few lovely Catholic friends had posted:

"White Smoke!"

"Habemus Papam!"

"New Pope has just been elected!"

I was rather gobsmacked, to be honest. I expected that we'd have a hung conclave for a week at least. I was prepared to wait and wait and wait as the Cardinals voted again and again. I certainly didn't think it would just take 24 hours of voting. 

I quickly turned on CNN to see for myself if it was true. And there was the smoke. WHITE SMOKE!!!!! The beautiful, beautiful white smoke that announced our new Father. 

And it was definitely white. I'd seen the black smoke- definitely different!

Habemus Papam!!!

I did not want to miss it. I was going to miss the bus, I knew, but I could not miss meeting our new Father for the first time. And if I was late for school (which I was), I didn't care, because this was the most important thing that could possibly happen in my day.

Waiting to meet our new Papa was like waiting to find out after callbacks for the show. No, that's the wrong simile. It wasn't at all like that, except for the nervous anticipation, the pounding heart and the obsessive rehashing of everything I knew about the state of affairs.

I'd purposely not done much research on the different contenders. I worried that if I got to 'know' the candidates, I'd develop a preference and be less accepting of the Holy Spirit's decision should it differ from mine.

So when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was announced to be our new Papa, I was like "who?". Actually, to be entirely honest, I didn't even catch the name. My Latin isn't up to scratch, and 'Jorge' really isn't the easiest name to recognize as being distinct from 'Habemus'.

Then he stepped out.

And I fell in love.

He prayed for Papa Benedict.

He asked us to pray for him.

He prayed for us.

The more I learn about our Holy Father, the more I thank the Holy Spirit for giving us such an incredible leader.

I love the name Francis.

I love that he took the bus to work.

I love his humility and simplicity.

I love his love for every human person.

I am convinced that he will lead our Church spectacularly.

And I cannot wait to meet him in Rio!!!

Lord Jesus, bless your servant Francis abundantly in his new ministry, and bless your Church throughout the world, that we all may come to know and love you in a way which is humble, fervent and sincere.

Amen!

AMDG

^^Just found out that AMDG is the unofficial Jesuit motto^^