The Pope told over 4,500 members of the media
and their families this morning how he chose the name Francis on his
election last Wednesday evening.
He was speaking during a lively, good
humoured audience at the Vatican ’s Paul VI hall,the lobby of which has been used as a media centre over recent days.
“You’ve been busy [these past few days],” he said to much laughter.
In one of many asides he recalled how during the conclave he sat next to the former Archbishop of Sao Paolo Cardinal Claudio Hummes “a great friend, a great friend.”
He continued “when the thing became
‘dangerous’, (his vote was increasing)” he said Cardinal Hummes
“comforted me, and when the votes reached the two thirds level, there
was the expected applause, because the Pope had been elected – and he
embraced me, and kissed me, and said to me: ‘do not forget about the
poor....and that struck me…the poor…”
He continued “immediately I thought of St
Francis of Assisi… Francis was a man of peace, a man of poverty, a man
who loved and protected creation.”
That, said Pope Francis, is how the name came to mind. “How I would love a Church that is poor and for the poor,” he said.
Other cardinals then suggested he might take the name Adrian after Pope Adrian
IV (who died in 1159) who was a noted church reformer. Others said he
should take the the name Clement to get back at Clement XIV who
suppressed the Jesuits in 1773, which drew more laughter from his
audience.
He spoke of how the role of mass media
continues to grow and how it was indispensible for telling the stories
of contemporary society. He also commented on the complexity of
recounting historical events like the election of a pope and of how
important it is to present such an event in the light of Faith.
“The Church,” he said, “does not respond to an
earthly logic” and can be difficult to communicate effectively because
“the nature of the Church is spiritual, not political”. It was the only
perspective in which the work of the Church could be presented, he said
“Christ is the centre, not the successor of
Peter… Christ is the reference point at the heart of the Church, without
Him, Peter and the Church would not exist,” he said.
The protagonist of all these events was is the
Holy Spirit. “It was he who inspired the decision of Benedict XVI for
the good of the Church. It was he who inspired the choice of the
cardinals,” he said. It is important to keep that in mind, he said, as
people tried to interpret the events of the past few days.
Pope Francis then reflected on what he
described as “the trinity of communication: truth, goodness and beauty”.
He continued, “we are not called to communiate ourselves, but this
trinity…the Church exists to communicate truth, goodness and beauty”.
He then imparted his apostolic blessing, in
silence. He did this out of respect for the fact that “not everyone
present belongs to the Catholic faith and others do not believe. I
respect the conscience of each one of you knowing that each one of you
is a child of God. May God bless you,” he concluded.
Yesterday Pope Francis visited the Pius XI clinic in Rome where Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mejia,
archivist and librarian emeritus of the Church, is being cared for
following a heart attack. It was an unannounced visit with staff and
patients surprised to see the new Pope.
He was greeted warmly with a lengthy round of applause.