Who is the new Bishop of Rome? The camino or path he followed until now, where does it lead?

One of the Jesuit broadcasters at Vatican Radio told me that, while waiting for the white smoke, he had prepared sketches or mini-biographies of the 20 Cardinals he thought most likely to be elected. But the name actually proclaimed, “Jorge Mario Bergoglio”, was not among them, and like many other journalists, he found himself scrambling to discover who the 266th successor of St. Peter was, the one who began, “Fratelli e sorelle, buonasera! Brothers and sisters, good evening!”

In the swirling excitement, a voice I have appreciated is that of my fellow-Jesuit Guillermo Ortiz who heads Spanish-language programming at Vatican Radio. He joined the Jesuits in Argentina in 1979, when Fr Bergoglio was finishing his six-year term as Provincial and became Rector of San Miguel, the big house of formation in Buenos Aires. From 1980 to ’86, Fr Bergoglio imparted to the young men in his charge many of the same gifts and virtues that we are discovering today: a priest who lives in the presence of God and who radiates Jesus Christ. Simple, intelligent, zealous, spiritual, decisive, serene, approachable and at peace.

As Ortiz’s recollections attest, Bergoglio walked the talk. Whether it’s in the house – cooking, washing the clothes, doing the chores. Whether it’s in the parish – embracing the desperate, reaching out to the lost, welcoming the wandering. Or as Archbishop – with fatherly care for his priests, he invites them and lay people to work together in forming open and fraternal communities, in evangelizing every inhabitant of Buenos Aires, and in offering help to the poor and the sick.  And now as Pope – he’ll say Mass on Holy Thursday and wash the feet of 12 juvenile inmates at Casal del Marmo penitentiary on the outskirts of Rome.

On 13 March, when Cardinal Tauran joyfully proclaimed his new name, Francesco, Francis, my first thought was of the great Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier as suggested by these words of the new Holy Father, “fruitful for the evangelization of this most beautiful city”. Since the Church of Rome “presides in charity over all the Churches”, this evangelization would reach out to the whole world. And one could begin to understand a different way in which Rome could be for the universal Church and indeed for everyone.

Speaking with journalists on 16 March, the Pope explained the choice. “Thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars…, Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation; these days we do not have a very good relationship with creation, do we?” So war and peace; the protection of creation; and first of all, “How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!”

But the Church is us. During the homily of the Mass of Installation on 19 March, “Just as Joseph looked after Jesus and Mary, to look after the whole of creation, to look after each person, especially the poorest, to look after ourselves: such is the service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. With love let us look after all that God has given us!”

Moreover, maybe because I work within the Vatican, I cannot get St Francis Borgia out of my mind, the third Superior General of the Society of Jesus. I think of him as translating faith, spirituality and missionary zeal into organizational terms, or even institutional ones. Another resonance is that the word “ministry” or service is also found in “administration”, good governance.

Yes, we are getting to know the one whom the Holy Spirit guided the Electors to choose. But he, in turn, seems to be revealing to everyone how the Church is and what the Church needs. And it is not he, least of all alone, who is going meet those many challenges. He seems to be drawing us in so that each of us can walk the talk, too. As we discover Francis upon the Holy See, the Chair of Peter, he sheds light on our following of Christ, on us, on our Church and world.

Ortiz says that what Bergoglio was in the 1980s, Papa Francesco is now and more so. At each step of the way – his youthful conversion, his Jesuit vocation, priesthood, studies, serving as Provincial and then Rector, as Auxiliary Bishop and then Archbishop of Buenos Aires – God was preparing a Holy Father for the Church and the world. And if we join him ardently on this camino, where will it lead?