Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, of Argentina was elected March 13 as the next pope. He is the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to obtain the position.
Eastern Michigan University freshman Julia Roche said it will be interesting to have the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years.
“I am so excited to have a Latino pope,” said EMU Spanish major Antoinette Moncrieff, who is Catholic. “He looks so kind and so fatherly, I love him already. I think it’s awesome that he’s a Latino, because so many of today’s Catholics are Hispanic and having a Latino pope shows that the church is still very much alive and relevant in today’s world.”
More than 40 percent of the world’s Catholics live in Latin America, according to the World Christian Database.
The official inaugural mass will be held Tuesday, but Bergoglio is discouraging people from coming to the mass and telling them instead to donate the money they would have spent to the poor.
Bergoglio has chosen the name Pope Francis after St. Francis, a saint known for his simplicity and poverty.
Francis was elected after Pope Benedict XVI stepped down, citing health issues.
“Pope emeritus Benedict XVI was an amazing and brilliant pope,” said EMU Catholic student Greg Champion. “His articulate writings on the faith are a true gift to the church. I look forward to
hearing more from our new Pope Francis, who seems like a truly holy man.”
The new pope is already making firsts. On the night he was elected, he refused to ride in a private car with security escort, and instead rode the bus with the cardinals back to the hotel he had stayed at the night before to pack and pay for his stay.
Catholic EMU alumnus Jonathan Hassey said he was happily surprised and optimistic for the future.
“It looks like we have a pope who loves Jesus with great humility,” he said.
Francis also refused to wear the elaborate papal cape, and had said “carnival time is over.”
“It is a gift for the church to have this pope for many reasons,” Father Joseph Ngidjoi of EMU’s Catholic Church, the Holy Trinity Student Center, said. “First, he comes from a third world country, and second, he brings all of his historical background—which is his attention for the poor.”
“He is a man of a deeper relationship, and a deeper faith with God,” Ngidjoi said.
He also said, “In the church, the Holy Spirit responds to the need of the church. Pope Benedict brought Christ as the center of life. Francis brings the church to those who have left the church, been abandoned by the church and those who are ‘less than’ the church.”
