Habemus Papam!

Color me shocked. I was really expecting there to be more black smoke this afternoon. I really expected this decision to take much longer. I was so confident that it was going to be black that I had just poured myself a glass of Black Sambuca Romana (as opposed to the white variety) 

...when I heard the cheers coming from the screen and saw the billowing, unmistakable white smoke.

An agonizing hour later (during which time, our new holy father was vested in his new white garments and then prayed before the Blessed Sacrament in the Pauline Chapel - arranged by Benedict XVI for his successor) the Senior Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran stepped out on the balcony and announced those sweet wonderful words 

(poor guy...was it just me or did he look like he wanted to throw up?) 

Habemus papam!

I thought I was all prepared with my Latin pronunciations for most of the cardinals but it wasn't until I saw the words actually written on the screen that I understood that this was a man that until today was completely unknown to me.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina
now Pope Francis I

Still processing the news and gathering information about him and I'm sure in the days to come we will get to know the man better. What we do know is that he is 76 years old, a Jesuit (a first!) from Argentina (first pope of the Americas!) who distances himself from liberation theology (a common problem in South America) and made the news by washing and kissing the feet of 12 AIDS patients. He was made cardinal by JPII, was supposedly/rumored to have been a runner-up against Ratzinger in the 2005 conclave (take that to mean whatever you want) and appears very humble. Many bishops and cardinals are coming out with glowing remarks including Archbishops Aquila and Chaput. Interestingly, he is the first pope to take an original name since pope Lando in 914. Rocco Palmo over at Whispers in the Loggia has an interesting thought about his choice of the name Francis:

By choosing the name of the founder of his community's traditional rivals, the 266th Roman pontiff – the first from the American continent, home to more than half of the 1.2 billion-member church – has signaled three things: his desire to be a force of unity in a polarized fold, a heart for the poor, and his intent to "repair God's house, which has fallen into ruin"... that is, to rebuild the church.

Thankful to have a holy father once again, we are celebrating tonight with steaks on the grill. (Wish I knew some great Argentinian recipes off hand.) God bless you Papa Francis! We welcome you with joyful hearts!