As you're probably aware by now, the Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers have a new spiritual leader - the Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who will take the name Francis. It's a momentous occasion, not only is he the first non-European pope for over a millennium, but the first pope from South America. He's conservative of social issues, yet economically liberal, so basically, he's Catholic.

 

The question I have for you all is this - what would you like to see the new pope to do during his reign as Pontiff, and what do you think he will do? Given that many people on this site aren't Christian, with even fewer being Catholic, It will be interesting to hear your perspectives.

 

From my perspective, he needs to spread the word of God (which is more or less a given in this role), he needs to continue the work of Benedict by purging the filth from the Church, and he needs to help restore the reputation of the Church that it enjoyed during John Paul II's papacy.

I can't see him doing any of the things I'd like him to do such as changing the church's attitude towards contraception and homosexuality. He should also consider dropping the celibacy requirement for priests. I don't think it's too far-fetched to believe that at least some of the incidents involving children could have been avoided if priests had been allowed to have a normal sex life. Of course, that probably won't happen either.

Well... there is no chance of the Pope visiting the Falkland Islands. :D

I hope he can reach out and restore some of the image of the Church. I'm not a Catholic but it's one of the most influential organisations on the planet so his choices will affect billions. Despite his conservative stance (which was to be expected), from what little I saw of his opening speech he already seems much more likeable and humble than Benedict ever was which is promising.

 

The choice of the name Francis is very interesting too, if he attempts to live up to Saint Francis' example that can only be a good thing. I don't think he'll have an especially long pontificate, especially now the precedent for a pope emeritus has been set, but it's quite possible that it could be a small step forward rather than backward.

As I posted in the Pope thread in the Lounge, this person pretty much has all the qualities that I want in a Pope! :D

 

Dear Bishops,

 

I am writing to put myself forward for the position of Pope. I am a 20 year old from the UK, which may seem a little far from the norm but I feel if anything this would be of benefit- it would certainly show the world the Catholic church is capable of doing something radical. Listed below are the reasons I feel I would be the best Pope the world has ever seen.

 

- Youth: The Pope is traditionally an old man and I think my youth would allow me to connect with the younger generation of the Catholic church- after all, it is they we must connect with to ensure the spread the faith. Also I imagine the young Catholics would imagine me as something of a sex symbol- whilst I would not class myself as above averagely attractive, I’m certainly considerably more attractive than an old man. Actually I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

 

- Free-thinking: I think I could modernise the Catholic church, particularly in regard to women, homosexuals and contraception- all things the Catholic church is apparently against and all things I am in favour of. (Out of context that sounds odd, I better explain). Women should be allowed to be bishops, homosexuality should not be frowned upon and contraception has it’s place in the world.

 

- Celibacy: I will have no trouble being celibate. If anything I’ve tried the opposite for some time now and have failed miserably. Imagine how good I would be at celibacy if I actually tried.

 

- Popemobile: I think I would be suited to the Popemobile. As a child I was quite the fan of the BBC children’s TV show Postman Pat and spent lots of time pretending to be in the van. Postman Pat’s van and the Pope Mobile are very similar vehicles so I don’t think I’d even require the standard training.

 

- GSOH: As you have probably gathered by this point, I have a good sense of humour which would liven up services. I think a few good one-liners would definitely get the crowd going during the Easter message. I’d also encourage the crowd to get a Mexican Wave going- interactivity is key to a good service.

 

- Like to travel I very much like to travel and I feel this is an essential part of being the Pope. If I obtain the position I would very quickly arrange for a tour of the Caribbean, somewhere I feel the Pope really needs to visit. Plus I’d like to get a nice tan for the press pictures.

 

- I despise the work of the so-called novelist Dan Brown. I image you guys don’t like his work either so we have something else in common.

 

- I would look good in the hat.

 

It has not completely escaped my notice that there may be some issues with me becoming Pope but fear not, I have solved these below.

 

- I am not Catholic- As previously mentioned, wouldn’t it be good to do something radical to increase the reputation of the Catholic church? Alternatively you don’t need to tell anyone that I am actually an atheist- I’d happily play along.

 

- I can’t speak Italian nor read Latin: I’m sure we could get a translator. And when I have to read something in Latin we could put the English version in the Latin cover- I’m sure no-one would notice.

 

Many thanks for your time and I look forward to your reply. You send a smoke signal or something don’t you?

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

The Future Pope Daniel I

 

I reckon the job’s mine- would you employ me to be Pope?

He does stuff? Well I'd guess just this:

 

- Raise awareness for respect towards gays and other minorities.

- Raise awareness for contraception.

- Raise awareness for the victims of the abuse scandal.

 

Basically do everything Ratzinger didn't do.