Day One
In the cold light of morning, Fr. Z. has a wonderful reflection on the election of Pope Francis.
This morning, the new Pope apparently flummoxed his security detail by taking a single car to Santa Maria Maggiore, my favourite church in Rome, and praying and laying flowers at an altar of Our Lady.
While at the church, Pope Francis also prayed at the tomb of one of his predecessors, Saint Pius V, the lion of the Counter-Reformation. Fr. Dwight Longenecker has a reflection on that that’s very worth reading.
He also bestowed the Papal blessing on several of the ordinary folks visiting the church, including the unborn baby of a pregnant parishioner.
A very promising start to his pontificate, I think. Has the Holy Spirit sent us a humble Francis of Assisi? Or a missionary Francis Xavier? Or a gentle Francis de Sales?
Or some combination of all three?
Pope Francis lays flowers at the altar of the Virgin bearing the icon of the Madonna “Salus Populi Romani”
(Protectress of the Roman People).
Pope Francis prays at the Tomb of Pope Saint Pius V