Patch Cartersville, GA --The College of Cardinals at the Vatican in Rome yesterday chose Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, of Argentina, as the Roman Catholic Church new pope.
When asked about his reaction, Rev. Daniel Stack, pastor of Cartersville's St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, sent this letter to Cartersville Patch:
Dear Editor,
I am at Ignatius House, a Jesuit retreat house in Atlanta, at a church leadership workshop as I write this. Yesterday, when white smoke appeared we hustled down to the priest's house with the two Jesuit priests to watch the television. I was watching the crowd and saw a group of kids waving Mexican flags and I thought that, for sure, a godson of mine who is a seminarian from Mexico, would be among them but I couldn't see him. When the announced Bergoglio the Jesuit priest got teary eyed with the thought that one of theirs had been named. It is all the more poignant as there has been no small amount of tension between the Jesuits and the Roman Curia the last few decades. This morning I received an email from my godson, Eduardo Rojas Sarubbi, who told me that the atmosphere in St. Peter´s square was electric. He told me that when they announced Bergoglio and that he would be called Francis that he immediately thought "An American! (Latin Americans consider north and south America as one continent and therefore all are americans) A Latino! Francis!" He said he thought of his bishop who is named Francis and because of whom he is studying there in Rome, of his pastor who sent him to seminary from his home parish of St. Francis, and of me, his godfather, and my parish of St. Francis here in Cartersville. Globalization has many, many facets. So let us all pray for this Pope Francis that he will be a good, wise and holy shepherd for all of us.
Monsignor Daniel Stack
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