On the streets in Buenos Aires, the stories about the cardinal who has become the first pope from the Americas often include a very ordinary backdrop: The city bus during rush hour.
Tales are traded about chatting with Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio as he squeezed in with others for the commute to work. They sometimes talked about church affairs. Other times it could be about what he planned to cook for dinner in the simple downtown apartment he chose over an opulent church estate.
Or perhaps it was a mention of his affection for the tango, which he said he loved as a youth despite having one lung removed following an infection.
On the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica just after a rain shower Wednesday, wearing unadorned white robes, the new Pope Francis appeared to strike the same tone of simplicity and pastoral humility for a church desperate to move past the tarnished era of abuse scandals and internal Vatican upheavals.
While the new pontiff is not without some political baggage, including questions over his role during a military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s, the selection of the 76-year-old Bergoglio reflected a series of history-making decisions by fellow cardinals who seemed determined to offer a suggestion of renewal to a church under pressures on many fronts.
“He is a real voice for the voiceless and vulnerable,” said Kim Daniels, director of Catholic Voices USA, a pro-church group. “That is the message.”
A cousin back in Argentina said the new pope “has a good spirit” that will benefit Roman Catholicism.
“He is naturally humble and a pastor,” said cardiologist Hugo Bergoglio, adding: “Jorge never thought he would be pope, or even a cardinal. That’s why he ended up becoming pope.”
Francis, the first pope from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order, bowed to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square and asked for their blessing in a hint of the humble style he cultivated while trying to modernize Argentina‘s conservative church and move past a messy legacy of alleged complicity during the rule of the military junta of 1976-83.
“Brothers and sisters, good evening,” he said before making a reference to his roots in Latin America, which accounts for about 40 percent of the world’s Roman Catholics.