Community Corner

Rye Catholics Buzzing Over New Pope

Buenos Aires-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the son of an Italian railway worker, is the new head of the Roman Catholic Church. What do you think?

Rye Catholics have excitedly been asking Church of the Resurrection's Msgr. Donald Dwyer about the new pope all day, he said. Dwyer watched white smoke rise from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, the traditional signal that the selection has been made, on television this afternoon before talking to school children about the selection. 

Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, from Buenos Aires is the new pope.

"I was amazed at the excitement from people -from the barber shop to the deli -wherever I went to (today)," Dwyer said. 

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Bergoglio, the son of an Italian railway worker, becomes the first Jesuit and first Latin American pontiff. He has taken the name Francis I and addressed the crowd below from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica today.

"It is exciting for the people of South America and western hemisphere," said Dwyer, who googled Bergogolio's biography once he heard the news. "The word Catholic means univeral and the selection of the new holy father shows the universality of the church by selecting someone from Argentina."

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"It is an unusual choice - he is 76 but in excellent health and a Jesuit who has a reputation of being reserved and shy and humble," Dwyer said. 

Born Dec. 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires, Bergogolio was ordained for the Jesuits on Dec. 13, 1969 during his theological studies at the Theological Faculty of San Miguel, according to the Vatican’s website.

He was novice master in San Miguel, where he also taught theology. He was Provincial for Argentina (1973-1979) and rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel (1980-1986). After completing his doctoral dissertation in Germany, he served as a confessor and spiritual director in Córdoba.

On 20 May 1992 he was appointed titular Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary of Buenos Aires, receiving episcopal consecration on 27 June. On 3 June 1997 was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires and succeeded Cardinal Antonio Quarracino on 28 February 1998. Dwyer believes his managmenet experience in Buenos Aires will help him in his duties as Pope. 

He is also Ordinary for Eastern-rite faithful in Argentina who lack an Ordinary of their own rite.

Adjunct Relator General of the 10th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, October 2001.

He served as President of the Bishops' Conference of Argentina from 8 November 2005 until 8 November 2011.

Dwyer hopes that Bergogolio will help the church address the shortage of priests in North and South America. 

What do you hope the new Pope will address? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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