I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, what does Eileen think of Pope Francis? I’m honored you would think of me at such a pivotal moment in the Catholic Church. The name alone that the Cardinal Formerly Known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio has taken is a good sign. At first I was all HE’S TAKEN THE NAME OF MY FAVORITE VINEYARD IN SONOMA. But then I realized he was taking the name in honor of St. Francis: Champion of the poor. Patron saint of animals. The middle name of both my parents. And the statue that guards my one-time vegetable garden which now houses a deflated child’s soccer ball and a rusted pig.

Also I happened to be in Assisi last year where I lit 12 votive candles and prayed that Pope Benedict née Ratzinger would step down and that a Latin American would become pope. (Naturally I was thinking of my husband at the time.)

Most importantly Pope Francis is, unless you’re counting John Boehner and Mel Gibson. For example the Jesuits are in charge of Georgetown University and Holy Trinity Church, where my parents would take us when they got sick of the monsignors at St. John’s telling us we were all going to spend eternity in purgatory for eating meat on Fridays and mixing with Methodists.

Jesuits take their vows of poverty very seriously. In Buenos Aires Pope Francis cooked his own simple meals, lived in a tiny apartment, communicated solely through blogging, abstained from Law & Order marathons, and chose to ride the BUS! Can you imagine getting on the bus and seeing THE POPE? That’s like when I get on the plane and see a nun and figure the plane can’t go down with a NUN on it. I usually try to sit as close to her as possible to see if I recognize her as one of the nuns from elementary school. Not likely, given that they were all roughly 112 years old at the time.

Habemus Papam! Carpe Diem! O Captain, My Captain!

Tags: Catholicism, pope   Posted General |