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Opinion Editorial

Published: March 15, 2013 00:26 IST | Updated: March 15, 2013 00:26 IST
White smoke or fresh breeze?
The Roman Catholic Church has startled the world by electing, after five ballots, the Argentinean Cardinal Jorge
Mario Bergoglio as the 266th Pope. The new pontiff, who has taken the name Francis, is the first Pope from the
Americas, the first from outside Europe in 1,300 years, and is the first member of the Society of Jesus to attain the
office; aged 76, he is also the oldest of the likely candidates. He accedes to a position of incalculable spiritual and
moral authority and even political influence, and will lead an institution facing immense challenges in the form of
terrible internal scandals and enormous differences in the lives and attitudes of its 1.2 billion followers. To start
with, the Church has been deeply shaken by the exposure of sex scandals among the clergy; in the developed world
this seems to consist mainly of the abuse of young men and boys including young priests, and in the developing
world of breaches of the vows of lifetime celibacy. Further problems arise from continuing revelations of slow
responses to the scandals, in what is tantamount to a concealment strategy. In addition, corruption scandals have
surfaced, together with allegations of incompetence within the Curia, the Churchs governing body.
While the question of whether celibacy is too severe a requirement to impose on the priesthood might appear to be
in part an internal matter, the Churchs more obviously public involvements are no less fraught. In the last three
decades, the institution has reconfirmed highly conservative positions opposing abortion and homosexuality,
though condoms to prevent disease transmission within marriage have had papal sanction; caution has also been
restated over ecumenism and interfaith dialogue. The impact of these positions, needless to say, varies hugely
according to social and cultural differences around the world. In 2008, a United States national survey found that 98
per cent of sexually active Catholic women there use some form of contraception which the Church would ban, and a
Pew Research poll found that only 21 per cent of U.S. Catholics think abortion should be illegal. Latin America,
home to 40 per cent of all Catholics, may, however, reveal very different public attitudes on such matters. The new
Pope is a doctrinal conservative, but his personality and background as a Jesuit may well be an advantage; as a
Cardinal he lived in his own modest flat, used public transport, and cooked for himself. Secondly, he favours
interfaith contact. Thirdly, he has criticised the effects of unregulated capitalism, calling inequality a social sin that
cries out to Heaven. Regardless of the limitations of his office and doctrinal approach, His Holiness Pope Francis
could yet help to make the world a better place.
Keywords: Papal election, Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Argentinean Cardinal, Roman Catholic Church
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