His words command attention, his actions even more so: Pope Francis, elected pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church 365 days ago today, is drawing plaudits from pundits on this first anniversary of his accession.
The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Bishop of Buenos Aires, said he had been found almost “at the end of the earth” by his “brother cardinals” in the conclave. While not widely known outside of Argentina, Francis — the first Jesuit to be elected Bishop of Rome and the first pope to take the name Francis, after St. Francis of Asisi — has “fundamentally altered the way the powers of the papacy are exercised, not the content of that power, but the way it is exercised,” said Vatican expert and Boston Globe associate editor John L. Allen, Jr., in remarks carried by Vatican Radio and published on its website.
