While we are still in the early days of the papacy of Pope Francis, the reports, accounts, stories and insights continue to pour into the “newsverse.” I thought it might be helpful to have a summary of some of the ones I have seen that I think are helpful.
- Five tests of whether Pope Francis’ reform of the Vatican could be real by John Allen (March 22, 2013)
- Debunking three ‘urban legends’ about Pope Francis by John Allen (March 24, 2013)
- How long will the honeymoon over Pope Francis last? By David GiBson (March 23, 2013)
- CNN Poll: American Catholics approve of new pope
- Why Francis may like having Benedict around by John Allen (March 23, 2013)
There are lots of others posts available out there – one only needs to query. And while 88% of American Catholics are currently happy to extremely happy with his election, that still leaves 12% who are not – and some of their blogs are scathing. But I will leave you to find them
And for the history of Jorge Mario Bergoglio in graphic form, you can look here.
In our previous 
When I was a missionary is Kenya there was a story told to me about the 1920s and big game hunting in Trans-Mara and the coastal regions. The gist of the story is that the “great white hunters” had to be reminded – even if they had made the perfect killing shot on a charging rhinoceros, they had to move out of the way. Even though the animal was technically dead, that message had not gotten to the rest of the beast. And it was the momentum of the rest of the beast that could still run you over.
I got up early this morning to watch a little bit of the installation Mass. Lots of pageantry, lots of people (150,000+) and a very wonderful St. Joseph’s Day 
Over the last few weeks, we described Francis of Assisi in the role in which he is most popularly recognizable: the lover of nature and animals. Interestingly, this role is not original in the Christian tradition. In a valuable book reviewing the nature stories of Franciscan literature, Edward Armstrong shows that many of Francis’ attitudes have precedents in biblical, early Christian, and medieval ideas about nature. One group of scholars place Francis in the tradition of hermits who retired to wilderness and befriended animals. Others associate him with a theological trend, unfortunately not dominant, which affirms creation as containing intrinsic value. Most see the stories about Francis as having precedents in the already-known lives of saints, although they may have been true of Francis as well. 
friarmusings 