ROMA, Pamela Fabiano/Federico Bauml. It is a little past 19:00, precisely 19.06. The eyes of the world are focused on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Moods intertwine and overlap, “it is too early, five ballots are too few”, “in my opinion, however, it is the right time.” And then, suddenly, the world that is anxiously waiting gets the answer, an echo is spread through the streets of Rome and all over the world, “is white.” Yes, it is white, there is no doubt.
We were in the car, stuck in traffic, chaotic as usual in Rome and crazied for a while by an afternoon of rain … not unlike all the others for us Romans. You know, when there is the Conclave, the city is paralyzed, remains stationary. Waiting … we were in the car, and we were going to our Shrine in the Via Aurelia for the usual Wednesday meeting, a special meeting because we had to start the path of the Covenant for a few friends who want to make the Covenant with the Blessed Mother. In short, when the radio announced the white smoke, we had no hesitation: after ten minutes we were all in St. Peter’s Square.
The wait, I said. Maybe I should write the Wait, with a capital W, because when you wait for the election of a Pope, it is never a normal wait, and those who live in Rome know this.
Whenever you are about to elect a Pope it is the world that awaits. Everyone is waiting, some anxious, some just curious to know who the new Pope is. But we would like to explain better that crescendo, in Rome, from the initial curiosity has changed to the eager attention, the tension! Because we have seen it on the street, in bars, at work, in recent days: Waiting for the new bishop of our town, the new head of the universal Church. Consciously or not everyone believes that the advent of the new Pope, embodied by a man and a face, changes something in the real world, but in Rome it is much more than that.
For this election, then, the world’s attention was suddenly more explicit, more restless: they immediately perceived the anxiety of the believer and somehow the hope of the non-believer. Not only to choose a new Pope who is going to succeed a deceased person. The throne of Peter, in fact, was vacant, not a law of nature, but by choice and sacrifice of a man.
The eyes of the world focused on Rome. The Expectation of choice is high, the brave choice, the necessary choice to give hope and breathe to Christians and people of good will who, distressed by the events, waiting for an election, as if the power of a lightning interrupted the linearity of our lives and questioned within us the change.
PIAZZA SAN PIETRO
St. Peter’s Square was a sea of faithful, all with an eye directed above us, toward the window that would open shortly.
Suddenly, behind the curtain of the window, shadows appear, here we go!
The Archdeacon Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, faces first from the balcony of the Basilica central and pronounced the name – with all the strength of testimony and the fatigue of the disease: “Annuntio Vobis, gaudium magnum, habemus Papam.” The Argentine, whose parents came from Piedmont, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, from now on, for the whole world, will be Papa Francesco.
The first moments of disbelief are: a name, a face that journalists “know-it-all” did not even ever mention in these last days, and which had not even thought of (Cardinal Bergoglio was already one of the eligible candidates in 2005 … it not could be him again !).
Then, however, the joy has become uncontrollable: “Brothers and sisters, good evening” are the first words of Pope Francis, who joked about his election: “I know that the duty of the conclave was to give a bishop in Rome and it seems that my brother cardinals have picked him up at the end of the world … Let’s start a journey of brotherhood, love and trust between us. Let us pray for one another, for the whole world, to bring about a great brotherhood. I hope that this journey that the Church is now beginning will be fruitful for the evangelization of this beautiful city. “
The first thought of the new Pope is addressed to our Emeritus Pope, Benedict XVI, “the Lord bless him and may the Madonna watch over him.” It is then the turn of a “favor” that the new Pope asks His followers: “and now, pray for me,” bowing.
The square falls silent composed for a few moments that are deeply overpowering: there, immediately in front of the whole world, to the God who was in our midst, the Pope has made us pray. Here, the first step of evangelization! Here, the living testimony of the power of faith.
“FRANCESCO! GO, REPAIR MY HOUSE“
Francis, a simple name, a very brave choice. Simple as that cheerful look and that winning smile that immediately won us over. Simple, like St. Francis of Assisi, in fact. A brave choice, that of the cardinals, who saw in him the man of God who is able to take the boat of the Church on the edge of change and renewal, in humility, to be of service to the poor of the world, the pure faith of the simple, the reconstruction of a Church which collapses. A brave choice that his having accepted, in front of a story that demands a courageous and indomitable spirit.
Original: Italian. Translation: Valerio Salvador, Johannesburg, South Africa
