The Successor to St. Peter

HABEMUS PAPAM!

The white smoke cleared and emerged is the new successor to St. Peter - Vicar of the Catholic Church/ Christ...  

After the smoke cleared and the bells stopped ringing, appearing in white vestments, Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Buenos Aires, Argentina - who has taken the name of Pope Francis (I).  "Francis" being of St. Francis of Assissi - Patron Saint of Animals, Merchants, and Ecology. He is our first Pope to come from a Latin Amercian country and the first Pope to have taken the name of St. Francis.

Am I the only one happy about the new Pope?!  Is it a "Catholic thing?"  Or were people of other faiths waiting for the white smoke to appear?  According to the news and social media blogs it seems as though the  world was watching and waiting.  And to me that is a good sign.  A sign of hope for the future of all humanity and our world.

As a Hispanic/ Latina woman, I am humbly excited.  And as a woman of faith, I pray the Cardinals who voted in secrecy and were sequestered, made the right choice for all of us Roman Catholics around the globe.  I also hope as an American that the situation of the priests molesting the children, will be at the forefront, as well as bringing the flock back to the church who have left because of the scandals.  The Catholic priests have done both the church and our children wrong, and they need to rectify the situation accordingly.  This is one of the reasons why so many people Catholics and non-Catholics have no faith in the church - any church or so-called Religion.  But most importantly something has to be done not just to regain the faith and trust of the Catholics but for the young people as well.

Enough said and I leave you with the Prayer of St. Francis of Assissi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.