TRIANGLE, Va. — Pastors at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Triangle are praying for the newly elected pope.
The new pontiff Jorge Mario Bergoglio will be called Francis, taking his name from the same saint as the Triangle church.
Francis was appointed pope today following last month’s resignation of Pope Benedict. The 76-year-old will be the first non-European leader of the Catholic Church in at least 1,200 years.
“The mood in our church has been a very hopeful one that whoever the cardinals chose, it would be someone who would come in with a new vision…someone who would think outside of the box,” said St. Francis of Assisi Pastor Kevin Downey, OFM.
Downey said he’s hopeful for the new pope, following sex abuse scandals that have rocked the church, that the new pontiff will embrace the calling as the original St. Francis, to “rebuild my church.”
“It’s kind of like same thing Yogi Berra said about baseball managers – ‘if you do what what you’ve always done you’re going to get what you’ve always gotten,’” said Downey.
St. Francis of Assisi won’t have any special services to celebrate the new pope, but will mention him in prayer services.
Downey also said the resignation of Benedict opened the door for other popes who might not choose to die in office, as Pope John Paul II did in 2005.
“I don’t think we’ll see that anymore,” said Downey. “What you will have though is two schools of thought: One will think that it’s horrible to have a pope resign because there may be pressure put on him by others to resign, but my thinking is, if you look at the last few years of Pope John Paul II’s life, after serving for so long, enough is enough,” said Downey.
