With the surprising and sudden resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in February, Roman Catholics around the world had been wondering and waiting to see whom his successor would be.
The conclave to elect a pope began on March 12 in Vatican City and while some speculated that it could take a week, only a day later, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis I, emerged as the new pontiff and leader of the Catholic Church.
For Father Marcel Cote, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Churches in Grand Forks and Greenwood (as well as at Christina Lake), was surprised that the church’s new leader hailed from Argentina.
“I felt joy, it was such a relief and everybody felt a little lighter,” Cote explained, adding that Pope Francis would be in the spotlight, as Catholics the world over would be looking to him.
“That’s where the joy comes from,” Cote explained when asked about Bergoglio taking the name Francis – after St. Francis of Assisi, who was known to live a life of poverty.
Cote said that poverty is spirit and it is something that people in prosperous North America seem to look down on.
Nevertheless, the church has a new leader. “The wait’s over and our prayers are with him,” Cote went on to say.