Yesterday we were all abuzz with the election of our new Pope. I want to recount four moments that stood out for me.
In the house we had decided that five bells would be the signal if a Pope were elected. I thought it would be Thursday or Friday but Wednesday afternoon I kept switching back to Twitter while writing a project for Conquest. (It definitely cut down my productivity.) Then came the moment. Twitter filled the screen with “Habemus Papam,” “We Have a Pope” and “White Smoke.” I jumped up ran to ring the bell and kept running. (Running in a cassock, probably made me look weird.) In my rush, I left my light on and the door open – as I found out two hours later.
I maneuvered well into St Peter’s Square. I found the one brother with a Canadian flag – everybody seemed to say a certain Cardinal and we wanted to greet him well. We waited. Then they announced his name. Silence. I had about 10 Papabili in mind but not him. Everybody looked around. We started asking each other randomly. Fortunately one of the 30 people near me knew who he was. The Holy Spirit knows better than we do.
Then came the moment he called us to pray for God’s blessing on him. It is the first time the Pope has used this moment to ask for prayers and he asked twice: once for Benedict and once for himself. It shows that he simply sees himself as God’s servant.
Finally, as I was leaving a journalist stopped me. “He’s the first non-European, right?” “No, way back there were some from North Africa, and Peter was obviously from the Holy Land.” Noticing her face, I continued, “but you can say the first Pope from the New World.” “Thanks, I need to send a report now,” she said as she checked her Blackberry. I continued toward the train.
