“Build My Church”: Aedificabo Ecclesiam Meam (Mt 16, 18)

Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt 

The choice of the name indicates the pastoral priority of the new pontiff. By choosing the name Francis, the new Pope projects St. Francis of Assisi as a model both for the Church as an institution and for all her individual members.

In Pope Francis, the Ignatian reaches out to embrace the Franciscan. As a Jesuit, the Pope received a solid grounding in a wide range of social and physical sciences including chemistry, literature and psychology, besides philosophy and theology. This rigorous intellectual training will lend breadth and depth to his magisterium. His pronounced social commitment too is part of his Jesuit legacy. His Holiness is known to have an eye for the poor and the disenfranchised – ubi amor ibi oculos.

By choosing the name Francis the Holy Father makes a pilgrimage to the heart of the Gospel. Upon his calling, St. Francis received the task of rebuilding the Church. Every Roman Pontiff receives the same mandate – to rebuild the church – according to the needs of the time while making the Gospel as the definitive touchstone. It is in this process of continual rebuilding that the transmission of faith and new evangelization happen. When the Vatican ІІ mooted the idea of ressourcement, it was really meant to be a return to the simplicity of the gospel.

The election of a Pope from South America is a veritable expression of the catholicity of the Church. By their choice, the Cardinal electors cast their net deep – duc in altum. The new Pontiff is a bridge between continents, between peoples, between cultures, between men and God.

The frugal life style of the new Bishop of Rome is already proverbial. His simple life style is not an end in itself. It is rather his way of being close to the people entrusted to his care. The charming personality of the new Pope and his credible life witness will encourage   many disaffected catholics to once again cherish their mother Church – a Church sine macula sine ruga.

Franciscan spirituality is championed today by a host of lay movements like the Franciscan Third Order. It may be earnestly hoped that the tenure of Pope Francis will witness a burgeoning of lay theology and apostolate. Let us wish and pray that the start of the new Pontificate will usher in an era of Peace and Joy.