Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
THE CATHOLIC WORLD is waking up to a new pope this morning and the first images of him wearing his papal vestments appear on the front pages of a vast majority of newspapers.
Most have made note of Pope Francis’s country of origin – Argentina – as it makes him the first pontiff from the ‘New World’, while others have examined his character, predicting how he will deal with the scandals that have engulfed the Catholic Church in recent years.
From Italy to Argentina, Brazil to Spain and the UK to the US, here is what the world’s papers are saying today:
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
I saw a pic of him on Facebook when he was cardinal in Argentina. Instead of taking private transport he took public transport and simply got the bus and I saw a pic of him sitting on the bus. Looking forward to his reign. VIVA EL PAPA!!!
He studied chemistry at uni, he cooks his own dinners, preferred an apartment to a palace, didnt need a secretary, rode the bus, worked with the poor…… In other words Stephen he is a normal guy. Lets not deify him.
Hopefully he’ll be a good pope if he remains true to himself. I bet the Curia and Vatican Bank are very scared right now. Jesuits despise greed and overbearing governance.
I hope he will fix some of the dysfunction of the church in what will most likely be a short reign.
All Popes are normal guys Conor, who we honor and don’t deify. We are called by the Holy Spirit in scriptures to honor one another and encourage one another. There is no need for the roman Curia to be scared, but to expect discipline that has its root in humility and love. We should forgive any wrong members of the Curia done, and we should always invite them back into the fold whilst at the same time recognising the sin we ourselves carry on our backs. I pray His Holiness Pope Francis I will fix everything and I know that if he will, he will do it in the spirit of the Gospel and with love.
LOL Stephen you need to go and read about the history of the papacy! The vast majority of popes were far far from normal. Try looking up some of the Borgia Popes!
“He studied chemistry at uni, he cooks his own dinners, preferred an apartment to a palace, didn’t need a secretary, rode the bus. . ”
And well he should. Anyone would think that this comment was about a King or Queen. The way people will now fawn all over ‘his royal holiness’ or whatever they call him, reminds me of Basil Fawlty’s attitude towards the con man who goes by the name Lord Melbury.
(not having a go at you Conor, I know that information, quoted, is from the papers)
There are over a billion of us in the world and while we are in trouble in so many areas of this wonderful faith we must hope that our new leader will bring humility and a return to the church of Jesus of Nazareth whom we try to imitate in the way we live our lives. For those not interested just leave it alone please.
Who knows Mary, maybe a jesuit is just what the Vatican needs. While I dont expect him to make any changes in attitude towards divorcees, gays or on abortion and contraception….. Maybe Francis will make the papacy more humble and more about caring for people. As a jesuit he should not be too impressed with the Curia or the Vatican Bank.
Hopefully he’ll be a good man and make changes to those at least. He won’t be drawing me back though.
“don’t expected him to makes any changes made in…”. How can you possibly just accept that? The catholic Church is a disgrace. They had a chance to revive their homophobic faith and they flat out rejected it
@richard rough figures put people on this earth with no religious beliefs at around 15%. Thats a lot of so called gullible people. I am a science man myself not religious at all but my mind is open to the possibility that there could be a creator in all this until science proves otherwise. Until then i will refrain from slagging off the 85% of the worlds population who believe in a higher power.
Theres no point in me expecting him to change. He is a 76 year old conservative in the same mould as JPII. He is not going to change at this stage in his life. Will I ever accept discrimination as a gay man from the hierarchy of the roman catholic church? Never!
He is not the man to change the Vatican on those injustices. But maybe he can start to fix the Vatican in his own way. Maybe the pope after him can push through the changes needed regarding attitudes to divorcees and gays.
In any case I know that the vast majority of honest catholics couldnt care less about what the Vatican says about being gay. Most of them are nauseated anytime they hear the Vatican spouting their nonsense.
As long as the Vatican discriminates against me I will ever be critical of them and their bullying. This I swear! But I’ll never deride ordinary good catholics just for being catholic. This I also swear.
Sadly Conor i don’t think the church will ever accept gays. It’s written in Leviticus about homosexuality so for a Pope to welcome the gay community to the church would open up a precedence of disagreeing with something written in the bible so I think his hands are tied in that regard.
Funny when you think that we are all created by God straight, gay, bi and transgender.
Catholics don’t recognize Leviticus See My Vest. Jesus “did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it”. That means that we now follow the New Testament teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, and no longer follow Mosaic Law.
Only the zealous arch conservative catholics use leviticus to discriminate…. they casually ignore the things they are supposed to do when wearing clothes of two different clothes, or eating pork, or women not wearing veils i.e. ritual burnings and stonings.
Mostly the Vatican cites Pauls letters to the Corinthians which says a man shall not lie with a man. But Paul despised all things greek so the fact that homosexuality was completely normal to the greeks he wanted to put a stop to.
I once had an on air discussion with Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor a few years ago at the BBC, and I asked him where did Jesus say homosexuality was a sin and he started talking about St. Paul, when I pressed him on it and asked for a direct quote from one of the four gospels legitimised by the Vatican that says homosexuality was a sin, he couldnt provide me with any. I then forgave him of his ignorance much to his amusement.
As for the Vatican stopping discrimination against gay people I cannot see it happening in my lifetime anyway. It would take a young pope of vision to do that and thats just not going to happen anytime soon.
The christian religion cherry-picks the parts of the Old Testament that suit its message. If you read the King James (Protestant) and the Douai (Catholic) versions you will see small but significant differences in text and interpretation.
I’m referring specifically to religion lads not in general haha. I’m not thick! What I mean is that science IS entirely based on proof and fact. Religion is based on fantasy… Why does science have to disprove god instead of religion proving it is what I originally was getting at.
From what ive seen and read he sounds like a very nice person. His love for the poor, humility and refusal to accept any of the perks he was entitled to has impressed me. Particularly liked the wooden crucifix he wore lastnight instead ostentatious golden ones we are accustomed to seeing
i do hope he can bring about some type of reform, not expecting miracles but im hoping he realises that the church needs to modernise and will begin that process
Lol at those who thinks his appointment is not newsworthy
Former Cardinal and Pope-elect “Francis I”, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is accused of helping kidnap opponents of Argentina’s military junta during the 1970′s “Dirty War”, and of baby trafficking, by lawyers and members of the Plaza de Mayo human rights group. (Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2005, “Argentine Cardinal Named in Kidnapping Lawsuit”,
Thankyou Mary. Someone above responded to a comment similar to yours so im not going to enter into a copy n paste competition.
He to my knowledge has never been found guilty or admitted guilt to any of those accusations. Writing the same thing over and over again does not make it true
the case against the church’s involvement is still ongoing in Argentina, his personnel accusers are not left wing Taliban, but 2 priests father Orlando Yorio and father Francisco Jalics of the Jesuit order, who claim he handed them over to the military death squads who tortured them for 6 months, why would they say that ?, and also the De la Cuadra family, who lost 5 family members, accuse him of turning their backs on them when they begged for help, their daughter caught when 5 months pregnant, was murdered after she gave birth,and the baby adopted away to a “befitting catholic family” (church baby-napping sounds familiar to us Irish from the Magdalena’s) strangely enough since 2010 Bergoglio has started to recall fairy stories, that paint him as a swashbuckling scarlet pimpernail type figure, hiding countless numbers on church property,personally smuggling the condemned across the Brazilian border, risking his life etc etc, and other such fantasy tales, asked why he did not reveal these tales before, a spokesman claimed it was because of his “humility” LMFAO, I would recommend “The Silence: from Paulo VI to Bergoglio, the secret links between the Church and the Navy Mechanics School (2005) .( Navy Mechanics School was the torture centre where thousands were tortured to death) by Horacio Verbitsky a award winning Argentinean investigative journalist.
All the hype for what??? Just another priest telling us what’s wrong with our culture while they cover up all the wrongdoings of the church. Blah blah blah
It’s important because he is a Jesuit, they study science and believe in poverty. Maybe the church has moved to embrace the new world. As I said Jesuits are seen as radicals……
Ali,
We all are against what is happening in Syria, lets not forget that Saint-Francis traveled to meet personally the leader of the Muslims during the crusades and tried to bring peace, that the Franciscan order have had a monastery in Damascus ever since, and the christian population of Syria are also under fire. The misery brought upon the population is brought by Muslims on the whole population Muslim and christian alike. Give this man the chance to get into his stride and I believe he has taken the name Francis because he intends to renovate open up and clean out the cobwebs in the Curia and the rest of the Church. Hopefully he will take a note from the book of the Dali Lama who does not need a palace and golden vestments to uphold his moral authority.
As much as I do not like the Vatican, lets not tar this guy with the sins of his predecessers, maybe he’ll be a good one…….we can hope. I would love to see him throw out all the old guard from the Curia and the Vatican Bank and actually reform both to help the poor and distrribute the great wealth thats hoarded in the Vatican.
When they announced his name as Francesco my first thought was wow, this guy means business by picking a brand new name.
this morning it’s reported he told argintinians NOT to travel to Rome for his inaugeration but to give the money to the poor.
He does seem a nice guy…but is he ‘bad’ enough, i.e. tough enough to challange bishops and cardinals on child abuse cover-up, is he strong enoght to clear out the corruption in the vatican/curia…and can he change some fundamental anti-women features in catholicism. thats what i’ll be looking for.
He is a Jesuit and well able to handle anyone and will make changes but moving the ‘large mill stone’ like the Curia will be an uphill battle, lets give him a hand and not throw marbles under his feet. As I said top someone last evening, he will be humble like Francis, hard as Ignatius L and a fast mover like Maradona, and he will achieve some if not all that is needed.
I wonder how many newspapers will run the story on how he assisted in the massacre of innocent civilians during the Argentinian dictatorship of the 70′s?
“Bergoglio — who ran Argentina’s Jesuit order during the dictatorship — told Rubin that he regularly hid people on church property during the dictatorship, and once gave his identity papers to a man with similar features, enabling him to escape across the border. But all this was done in secret, at a time when church leaders publicly endorsed the junta and called on Catholics to restore their “love for country” despite the terror in the streets.”
I’m so tired of hearing that he gets the bus and cooks his own dinner . Why shouldn’t he ?.
Lots of people do !
I think that from now on though he won’t be using public transport and I imagine there’ll be some little old nun in the Vatican doing his washing , his ironing , his cooking , his cleaning etc .
Wake up women , Please !
I just find it a bit insulting that the only women in the Vatican are those that do the washing , cooking and cleaning .
I suppose I can’t get excited about such a sexist and unfair organisation . I have nothing against this new pope personally . It’s just that we can only expect more of the same which is disappointing , especially if you happen to be a woman .
I didn’t say that only women do the cooking , washing and cleaning . What I said was that the only women that are allowed into the Vatican are the ones that do those particular jobs.
I have looked into this and to date there are five nuns working in the Vatican . I’m quite sure that there are men doing these jobs too .
Just think about the size of the Vatican . It would take an army of cleaners , cooks etc
I completely agree Bill, the logic of an omnipotent,omnipresent God who creates everything including faulty Sinful Humans whom he is suppose to Love, but will gladly throw them into Hell, a place were you burn and suffer for all of eternity possibly with the odd poke of a pitchfork is equally ridiculous as it is hilarious, sounds like a lovely God indeed.Luckily I was not indoctrinated to believe absurdity.
James we are all given the platform to live a good life, but it’s what we do as independent thinkers and doers that determines what happens us in the end. You are not a puppet and God is pulling no strings, every conscious person is to be held accountable for every action they’ve done. And to think hell is a hot place where a hoof-footed man pokes you with a trident is comical and is conveyed across to children to get the general idea that “hell is bad.” In my view hell is a permanent state of mental/spiritual anguish and unquantifiable despair.
Andrew,people who are indoctrinated in religion are hardly independent thinkers! To believe without evidence is ridiculous whether it be the Assumption of Mary or Muhammad flying to heaven on a winged horse, by that logic we can believe in magic beans and anything can be justified by faith.In the 21st century we still have people who literally believe Noah had two of every animal on an ark and that the Pope is infallible.
There is a difference to being institutionalised by the church, (a man made institution), and having faith in a higher power. That’s exactly what blind faith is; believing in something that has no scientific evidence but you believe it all the same. Faith has helped many people through different stages in life and I bet that a surprising proportion of the atheists on here would mutter a prayer in desperation when hurtling towards earth in a plane crash. I’m not enforcing my faith on anyone but it really grinds me when atheists disrespect my beliefs “gullible people…fairy tales…” etc and enforce their views on me. And for your information I don’t believe in the Old Testament, some of the material there is silly.
Andrew, I don’t know any self respecting atheist who would pray on a plane if it was crashing. What’s God track record of stopping planes plummeting to the ground or through buildings? Superman would be as likely to rescue the plane as God.
Im glad you think the old testament is a bunch of malarkey but the new testament isn’t much better. For your information I don’t mind people believing in a higher power but I can tell you that the Vatican are the furthest thing from being Holy or spiritual.Why do I say that it’s based on facts and evidence,im against any institution that has such an appalling track record.
Believe in a God or a deity if you like but support the Vatican well thats shameful.
Yes, and I find it very annoying that media covers the pope election like it is a super-important news.
He was elected, good news! Stop there. I have no interests in his youth surgeries or his opinions about the Falkland Islands!
Let Chrisians read news about their chief on their newspapers!
“The Dirty War”: Allegations directed Against Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio
In 2005, human rights lawyer Myriam Bregman filed a criminal suit against Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, accusing him of conspiring with the military junta in the 1976 kidnapping of two Jesuit priests.
Bergoglio, who at the time was “Provincial” for the Society of Jesus, had ordered two “Leftist” Jesuit priests “to leave their pastoral work” (i.e. they were fired) following divisions within the Society of Jesus regarding the role of the Catholic Church and its relations to the military Junta.
Condemning the military dictatorship (including human rights violations) was a taboo within the Catholic Church. While the upper echelons of the Church were supportive of the military Junta, the grassroots of the Church was firmly opposed to the imposition of military rule.
In 2010, the survivors of the “Dirty War” accused Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of complicity in the kidnapping of two members of the Society of Jesus Francisco Jalics y Orlando Yorio, (El Mundo, 8 November 2010)
So new Pope is a firm believer that
1. homosexual actions are immoral
2. same-sex marriage is wrong (real and dire anthropological throwback)
3. adoption by same-sex couples is wrong and children are discriminated against as a result and depriving them of human growth.
Really nice to see a Pope with modern views who embraces the 21st century and who isn’t stuck in the stone ages (actually they were probably more open minded)
Paul didn’t you get the memo? We cannot be critical of the Pope, the Vatican, it’s dogmatic superstitious teachings and please don’t mention anything about the abuse scandals or the money laundering, or it’s fair and tolerant views on homosexual people, the Faithful might brand you a bigot or a Troll.
Ten dead in LA wildfires as curfew planned and National Guard called in to tackle looting
3 hrs ago
10.0k
Tennis
Novak Djokovic claims he was 'poisoned' before Australian Open deportation
1 hr ago
5.2k
Temperature drop
Status Orange low temperature and ice warning in place for 15 counties
Updated
13 hrs ago
74.3k
82
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 138 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 95 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 123 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 93 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 68 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 67 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 32 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 28 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 115 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 56 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 67 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 74 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 39 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 23 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 77 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 87 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 64 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 46 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 75 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 54 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say