He is also the first Pope to address a crowd whose joyful
faces were hidden behind iPads, cell phones, digital cameras and video
recorders. I remember during the election
of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI back in 2005 I didn’t even have a digital
camera. This year, my Mom and friends in the U.S. followed along
closely as I sent photos in real time from my cell phone all day. My mother even commented on the change of weather (she is from Buffalo where weather is the news) throughout the day as I sent her photos from morning until
night, black smoke to white. I participated in this historic event with my
local NBC news crew where they fed live video to home viewers of
the Pope introducing himself on the balcony from the videographer’s backpack.
He was a surprise candidate. Not one of the Pope-ables
covered intensely by the media in the week leading up to and during the
conclave. As soon as his name was
announced there was a moment of silence where it appeared everyone there was
looking him up on Google or Wikipedia before applauding. Within an hour you could find everything out
about him online from where and when he was born (Buenos Aires 1936 to Italian
immigrants), his preferred mode of transportation (the public bus…good luck
with that in Rome!), the profound meaning in his choice for nomenclature (after
Italy’s patron saint, Francis of Assisi), and his conservative moral views.
Pope Francis seems to have sense of humor about the mass
media coverage. One of the first things
he said to the crowd after his humble request that we pray for him is that he
was granting a plenary indulgence not only to the hundreds of thousands in
attendance in St. Peter’s Square, but also to the millions following by television and
internet.
Living in Rome, I look forward to getting to know him as a
human being. It makes a difference to me
whose smile I see weekly riding around in the Popemobile while I am commuting
to work. It makes a difference because
he is not only the Pope, representing billions of Catholics around the world,
but also now the Bishop of Rome whose decisions on issues that matter (need I
even point out the most obvious issue, the role of religious women and expected
role of lay women in society) affect me on local level.
It is this sense that the Pope is not a distant exotic king,
but a church figure present in the daily lives of Romans, that is the reason
for a general reluctance here in getting exceedingly concerned or excited. This generation of Italians is as rebellious
and secular as anywhere else in the world, while Catholicism struggles to hang
on to its youth.
Pope Francis represents a place in the world where
Catholicism is more alive. Rome, as
Italy’s government capital and stage for strife, struggle and scandal, needs a
redeemer. Something optimistic to tweet
about besides dinner.
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