Pope Francis speaks from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 The selection of an Argentine surprised many.
The world’s media overwhelmingly greet the new Pope enthusiastically.
Commentators welcome the choice of a non-European and Jesuit as a breath of fresh air, showing that the Catholic Church is able to change.
Many also praise the new Pope’s reputation for simplicity and hope he will promote social justice.
By electing Jorge Bergoglio, [the cardinals] signalled a fresh beginning. For he is the first non-European since antiquity, the first Latin American ever, and the first member of the Jesuit order on the throne of the bishop of Rome. Bergoglio himself immediately responded to this signal and chose a name that marks a fresh start in papal history: Francis.
Daniel Deckers in Frankfurter Allgemeine ZeitungA surprise Pope, come from the ends of the earth, almost as if to say “enough” to the Italian intrigues and blackmails of the Curia and to the paralysis of government that weakened the papacy of Benedict XVI.
Ezio Mauro in Italy’s La RepubblicaHe will change the papacy by changing the tone; there will be no radical departures from doctrine, polity and convention. But he will bring a breath of fresh air to the stale and scandal-drenched corridors of the Vatican… Francis could move the institution by sheer dint of his personal preference for evangelical simplicity.
Michael W. Higgins in Canada’s Globe and Mail
