Habemus Problema!

Newly elected Pope Francis appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica after being elected by the conclave of cardinals, at the VaticanOn March 13, 2013, shortly after 1 pm U.S. Eastern Time, I glanced up at the live video feed from Rome on my computer and saw that white smoke was beginning to billow from the Sistine Chapel chimney.

Just over an hour later, while on my knees, I couldn’t help but get a little choked up as the doors to the balcony of St. Peter’s were finally opened and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran emerged to make the announcement for which the entire world was waiting.

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; habemus Papam!

In hindsight, as the one year anniversary of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio’s elevation to the Chair of St. Peter dawns, it occurs to me that the Cardinal Protodeacon’s announcement could just as easily have been:

Annuntio vobis tempore tribulationis; habemus problema! (I announce to you a time of trouble; we have a problem!)

Let’s review just a handful of highlights from the previous year:

– Like pretty much everyone else, I knew next to nothing about Jorge Bergoglio as he walked onto the balcony of St. Peter’s as Pope Francis, and yet within mere minutes, the lump in my throat turned into a pit in my stomach.

You know that it was the duty of the Conclave to give Rome a Bishop. It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to get one… but here we are… I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome now has its Bishop…

And so began the first papal address of the newly elected Supreme Pontiff, a discourse of roughly nine minutes duing which he referred to himself as a mere bishop no less than five times and pope not even once.

Reality really began to set in, for me anyway, as the Vicar of Christ and earthly head of over one billion Catholics bowed his head and asked for their prayers.

While certainly there is nothing wrong with praying for the pope, and indeed we must, my first thought was, This is not what we need. We need a father and a sovereign.

–  From these very first moments onward, Pope Francis made it clear that his own ideas and personal preferences would take precedence over papal tradition. From his beat up shoes to his living quarters, the way he would dress and his chosen modes of transportation, things would be done his way – period end of discussion. Welcome to the new definition of “humility.”

– During his first meeting with leaders of other faiths, the new Bishop of Rome relinquished the elevated throne in favor of an ordinary chair. So much for giving the world the impression that the Sovereign Pontiff of the Holy Catholic Church reigns superior over the purveyors of false religion.

– On the ides of March, disgraced American Cardinal Roger Mahony sent out the following message via his Twitter account:

“Mass with Pope Francis: moving from HIGH Church to LOW and humble Church! What a blessing that we are encountering Jesus without trappings!”

– The following day, just three days into his pontificate during a gathering with journalists in Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis raised a red flag that only the willfully blind could fail to see.

The relevant details were described by Dr. Robert Moynihan as follows:

The moment had come for him to impart to all of us his Apostolic Blessing, but he did not do this in the usual way. In fact, he made no exterior gesture at all. He did not lift his hand, he did not move it in the form of a blessing, and he did not speak “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” out loud. He said, in Italian: “I cordially impart to all of you my blessing. Thank you.” And then, in Spanish, he explained as follows: “I told you I was cordially imparting my blessing. Since many of you are not members of the Catholic Church, and others are not believers, I cordially give this blessing silently, to each of you, respecting the conscience of each, but in the knowledge that each of you is a child of God. May God bless you!” And with that, he turned and left.

– On this very same day, Cardinal Roger Mahony went back to Twitter to say:

“So long, Papal ermine and fancy lace! Welcome, simple cassock, and hopefully, ordinary black shoes! St. Francis must be overjoyed!!”

All of this took place within the first few days of the new pontificate, and already Francis mania was making itself known.

Now, here we are a library of casual homilies, a handful of loosely worded newspaper interviews, and a 50,000 word tome Cardinal Burke still hasn’t quite figured what to call later, all of which are presented in the “new genre of papal speech not concerned with precision,” and all indications are you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Yes, my friends, habemus problema. Year number two promises to be one for the ages.

Latest Comments

  1. Pooh Bear March 12, 2014
  2. capt. morgan March 12, 2014
  3. Joe of St Therese March 12, 2014
  4. Pooh Bear March 12, 2014
  5. Patt March 12, 2014
  6. Dumb_ox March 12, 2014
  7. MMC March 12, 2014
  8. MMC March 12, 2014
  9. Edu March 12, 2014
  10. Rich March 12, 2014
  11. Edu March 12, 2014
  12. Edu March 12, 2014
  13. Pooh Bear March 12, 2014
  14. mummyforlife March 12, 2014
  15. Edu March 12, 2014
  16. TomV March 12, 2014
  17. kallistos March 12, 2014
  18. Jeff Culbreath March 12, 2014
  19. Barbara March 12, 2014
  20. Barbara March 12, 2014
  21. Ganganelli March 12, 2014
  22. Bosco March 12, 2014
  23. Catholic Militant March 12, 2014
  24. Hannah March 12, 2014
  25. Charlemagne March 12, 2014
  26. Sheen March 12, 2014
  27. Ganganelli March 12, 2014
  28. MMC March 12, 2014
  29. John March 12, 2014
  30. Lisamck March 12, 2014
  31. Nathan March 12, 2014
  32. Pooh Bear March 12, 2014
  33. athanasius58 March 12, 2014
  34. A Catholic Thinker March 13, 2014
  35. Ganganelli March 13, 2014
  36. lepantoguadalupe March 13, 2014
  37. Lisamck March 13, 2014
  38. Barbara March 13, 2014
  39. Barbara March 13, 2014
  40. Catholic at Rome March 13, 2014
  41. JamesTheLesser March 13, 2014
  42. Louie March 13, 2014
  43. lepantoguadalupe March 13, 2014
  44. Catholic Militant March 13, 2014
  45. Denise March 13, 2014
  46. Nathan March 13, 2014
  47. Habemus Papam March 13, 2014
  48. TSS March 13, 2014
  49. MMC March 13, 2014
  50. MMC March 13, 2014
  51. jb March 13, 2014
  52. MMC March 13, 2014
  53. Pooh Bear March 13, 2014
  54. Tom March 13, 2014
  55. Andrew March 13, 2014
  56. Denise March 13, 2014
  57. Rodj March 13, 2014
  58. Ganganelli March 13, 2014
  59. Pooh Bear March 13, 2014
  60. MMC March 13, 2014
  61. MMC March 13, 2014
  62. MMC March 13, 2014
  63. A Catholic Thinker March 13, 2014
  64. Mike March 13, 2014
  65. A Catholic Thinker March 13, 2014
  66. Ganganelli March 13, 2014
  67. A Catholic Thinker March 13, 2014
  68. saluto March 13, 2014
  69. saluto March 13, 2014
  70. Edu March 13, 2014
  71. saluto March 13, 2014
  72. Ganganelli March 13, 2014
  73. saluto March 13, 2014
  74. Sheena March 13, 2014
  75. A Catholic Thinker March 13, 2014
  76. TomV March 13, 2014
  77. saluto March 13, 2014
  78. marie March 13, 2014
  79. saluto March 13, 2014
  80. Ganganelli March 13, 2014
  81. Jeff Culbreath March 14, 2014
  82. saluto March 14, 2014
  83. Heather March 14, 2014
  84. lepantoguadalupe March 14, 2014
  85. Catholic at Rome March 14, 2014
  86. Catholic at Rome March 14, 2014
  87. Catholic at Rome March 14, 2014
  88. jpaYMCA March 14, 2014
  89. Rodj March 14, 2014
  90. TomV March 14, 2014
  91. saluto March 14, 2014
  92. Nathan March 14, 2014
  93. saluto March 14, 2014
  94. saluto March 14, 2014
  95. lepantoguadalupe March 14, 2014
  96. JamesTheLesser March 14, 2014
  97. Jamey March 14, 2014
  98. John March 14, 2014
  99. Edu March 14, 2014
  100. Ganganelli March 14, 2014
  101. JamesTheLesser March 14, 2014
  102. Rodj March 14, 2014
  103. JamesTheLesser March 14, 2014
  104. Rodj March 14, 2014
  105. Ganganelli March 14, 2014
  106. JamesTheLesser March 14, 2014
  107. MMC March 14, 2014
  108. MMC March 14, 2014
  109. Catholic at Rome March 14, 2014
  110. Denise March 14, 2014
  111. Ganganelli March 14, 2014
  112. Rodj March 14, 2014
  113. Rodj March 14, 2014
  114. Edu March 14, 2014
  115. Jimmy March 14, 2014
  116. James The Lesser March 14, 2014
  117. pio noni March 14, 2014
  118. Ganganelli March 14, 2014
  119. MMC March 14, 2014
  120. Catholic at Rome March 15, 2014
  121. Denise March 15, 2014
  122. Pooh Bear March 16, 2014
  123. Pooh Bear March 16, 2014
  124. Bornacatholic March 18, 2014