In the middle of lunch on Wednesday, I went upstairs to check the TV for smoke from the Sistine Chapel…nothing. But I decided to stay anyway, with our RC missionary, Jazmin. We waited…and waited. At one point, I made a quick visit to the chapel, and I had the certainty that something was happening. An hour and a half later, smoke started coming…it seemed black at first, but then: “WHITE SMOKE! WHITE SMOKE!” I ran downstairs to get the rest of the community here in Michigan, who were just finishing lunch.
Another hour of waiting, wondering, who will it be?
But even as the minutes passed and text after text was sent and received as we all shared the news with our friends and family, the curtain began to flutter. I felt that we were part of the crowd at St. Peter’s; we would rejoice with them!
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran gave us the good news: “HABEMUS PAPAM!”
I didn’t know him; we had to look him up on our “Conclave chart.” But when I heard that he chose the name Francis, I knew we were in for some good things. Immediately, the words Jesus spoke to St. Francis came to my mind: “Francis, Francis, go and repair my house, which, as you see, is falling into ruins.”
Of course, St. Francis took this literally at first, and began in earnest to rebuild the ruined Church of San Damiano, but these words of prophecy ended up being a re-building of the Universal Church. I feel that with this choice of name, Pope Francis could be God’s instrument to do the same.
There are many ideas of how Pope Francis needs to “re-build” the Church today, but just as with St. Francis, it will not be he who does it, but the Holy Spirit acting through him.
When Pope Francis asked for our prayers and blessing, that sealed it for me! This will be a time of renewal for the Church. And he confirmed it with the concluding words of his first homily: “It is my wish for all of us that the Holy Spirit – through the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother – bestow upon us the grace of journeying, building, confessing Jesus Christ crucified.”
Amen.
