God Bless Pope Francis!

A papacy of firsts: The first non-European in about 1600 years, the first South American, the first Jesuit, and now the first to take the name Francis.  The former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is now Pope Francis.  May the Holy Spirit guide him and protect him!

Photo credit: News12 | Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who will lead the world's Catholics as Pope Francis, appears to the crowd in St. Peter's Square. (March 13, 2013)

3 comments:

  1. It struck me when you said "first non-european pope in 1600 years..." and then it dawned on me! Um, St. Peter, our first pope, was born in Israel! According to a Washington Post article, Pope Francis is the 11th non-european pope.

    1) Saint Peter: Bethsaida, modern-day Israel(33 – 64 A.D.)
    2) Pope Saint Evaristus: Bethlehem, modern-day West Bank (97 – 105)
    3) Pope Saint Anicetus: Emesa (today known as Homs), Syria (155 – 166)
    4) Pope Saint Victor I: Leptis Magna, modern-day Libya (189 – 199)
    5) Pope Saint Miltiades: Somewhere in North Africa (311 – 314)
    6) Pope Theodore I: Jerusalem, modern-day Israel and West Bank (642 – 649)
    7) Pope John V: Antioch, then Syria but today part of Turkey (685 – 686)
    8) Pope Sisinnius: Syria (708)
    9) Pope Constantine: Syria (708 – 715)
    10) Pope Gregory III: Syria (731 – 741)

    And now number 11! Pope Francis I: Buenos Aires, Argentina (2013 – ?)

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/13/sorry-jorge-mario-bergoglio-is-not-the-first-non-european-pope/

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had only heard the number 1600 years, but according to your list it is more like 1300. I was off by three centuries. But, yeah, there were popes in the early church that were not from or born in Europe. Thanks for the list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, I like the number 11--two 1's. LOL.

    ReplyDelete

Keep in mind while posting:
1) Please respond ON TOPIC to the article at hand.
2) Posts more than 4 weeks old are set to automatically save new comments for moderation - so your comment may not show up immediately if you're responding to an older post.
3) The "Spam Filter" is on - and randomly messages get caught in that filter. I have no control over which messages get caught in the spam filter and those that do must wait for me to mark them as "not spam." A message caught by the spam filter may show up for a moment, making you think it posted, and then disappear. Do not assume I have deleted your comment, it's probably just the spam filter and it will show up.

Feast of the Assumption

 The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - another example of "not-so-ordinary" days! These are COUNTING days - and...