From the CNS Twitter feed: the ring is not one made specially for this occasion. It belonged to Archbishop Macchi, secretary to Paul VI, and it is made of gold-plated silver. (Unclear at this point if the ring is, in fact, the one worn by Pope Paul VI…) More details of the installation Mass to come. UPDATE: Details of tomorrow’s liturgy can be found here. Of the ring, the Vatican says: It was designed by Enrico Manfrini. The ring... Read more
It isn’t every day that you encounter these kinds of stats on Twitter: 1 TWEET. 1,991,949 FOLLOWERS. But here you go: the first tweet of Pope Francis: Details: Pope Francis made his first foray into the world of Twitter, making his first tweet on Sunday. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was chosen last week to lead the Roman Catholic Church. Having taken the name Pope Francis I, he delivered his first angelus, an afternoon prayer, as pontiff to a... Read more
That was my thought, at least, watching the remarkable and touching images of Pope Francis greeting the faithful after Mass today at St. Anne’s in Rome. What this resembled was not unlike something most parishes see on a Sunday — the celebrant greeting his flock after Mass, before everyone heads to the church hall for donuts. But this is that same event on steroids. He reportedly greeted every single parishioner before wading into the crowd of tourists, seemingly wanting to... Read more
Given the widespread reports that the current pope was a runner-up in the last conclave, you have to wonder if Pope Benedict sensed that perhaps Cardinal Bergoglio’s time was at hand. It certainly casts the following tidbit from Rocco in a new light. Here’s a post from last month, about one of Benedict’s final appearances: Drawing a crowd at least four or five times its normal size, a throng estimated at well over 100,000 people swarmed St Peter’s Square today... Read more
Details from Vatican Radio: Pope Francis is celebrating Sunday Mass in the parish church of Vatican City, dedicated to St. Anne, the mother of Our Lady. The choir intoned the Attende, Domine! at the entrance, and the readings were those of the fifth Sunday of Lent: from the prophet, Isaiah; Psalm 126 – the Lord has done great things for us; the Letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Philippians; and a reading from the Gospel according to St... Read more
A revealing anecdote from an interview in 2009 with the man who would become Pope Francis: Just a few days ago I baptized seven children of a woman on her own, a poor widow, who works as a maid and she had had them from two different men. I met her last year at the Feast of San Cayetano. She’d said: Father, I’m in mortal sin, I have seven children and I’ve never had them baptized. It had happened because... Read more
If you want a sense of the new pontiff’s personality and his thinking, check out the brief video below from Rome Reports, featuring some candid moments from his encounter with the media on Saturday. As CNS noted, in addition to explaining the story behind his name and his devotion to the poor, the new pope also spoke about the media and offered what may be the first papal blessing of its kind: Pope Francis told reporters it was the Holy... Read more
You can’t make this stuff up: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man this week elected as the first Latin American pope, reportedly turned to religion after he was spurned by his childhood sweetheart when they were both just 12 years old. According to 76-year-old Amalia Damonte, Pope Francis once declared “If I can’t marry you, I’ll become a priest” after she rejected him during their childhood in Buenos Aires. “Luckily for him, I said no”, she joked. Speaking from her home,... Read more
Why yes, it appears he is: Bishops will do that, from time to time—these days, it’s not an uncommon practice at diaconate ordinations—as a sign of the bishop’s connection to the order of deacon. It’s debatable, though, whether they dressed like that in the 4th century. (And let’s not even get into the question of whether the fellow pictured actually drove the snakes from Ireland…) Anyway: you see the above image, or variations of it, very often. In fact, a... Read more
Back in 1978, when Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II, a French journalist sent a message back to his office in Paris. “They haven’t elected a pope from Poland,” he wrote. “They have elected a pope from Galilee.” Thirty-five years later, I can’t help but think that history is repeating itself. At this moment, the words from Isaiah have even more resonance. “Thus says the Lord: See, I am doing something new!” We are seeing it with every passing... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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