Francis, the first New World Pope, faces some old and vexing problems. He must confront headlines reminding him of the church’s failures in dealing with the scandal of priestly sexual abuse. He must reform the Vatican’s finances by way of a bureaucracy that originated in medieval times and is burdened by aristocratic privilege and the Machiavellian instincts of feudal Italy. He must respond to the opposing demands of a divided flock—with many Catholics in North America and Europe asking for more-liberal interpretations of doctrine even as many in the burgeoning mission fields of Africa and Asia warm to the conservative comforts of the faith. Unlike some of the cataclysmic challenges in the church’s past, these problems are internal—but as such, they are more difficult to resolve.
And then there is the unprecedented presence of his old conclave rival, Pope
emeritus Benedict XVI—distinguished and professing to be silently retired yet
still an embodiment of a conservative legacy that will be difficult to touch
while he remains alive. With all this to handle, fighting Napoleon and the Turks
may well have been easier.
Bergoglio almost made history eight years ago, when he was rumored to have
been the only real challenger in the several rounds of balloting that led to the
election of Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI. That itself was history: Ratzinger
became the second consecutive non-Italian to head the Roman Catholic Church. Now
Bergoglio too has made history, as the first Pope from Latin America. Yet as the
son of Italian immigrants, he has also brought the papacy back home to the land
of his ancestry. Full circle, yes, but with a great many
detours.
Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/03/13/pope-of-the-americas/#ixzz2OAzyOnUa
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