Davidson

Local Catholics looking to acquaint themselves with new Pope

The Roman Catholic Church elected a new pontiff last Wednesday in Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, who took the name Pope Francis, but Reverend Joseph Gyim-Austin believes the direction of the Church will remain the same.

“I don’t think he is going to bring any new thing, but only help us to embrace in our own faith what we believe, what we have always believed, what we stand for and what the church is always ready to give,” said Gyim-Austin, pastor of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish (Davidson), Holy Redeemer (Elbow), St. Andrew’s (Kenaston) and Immaculate Heart of Mary (Outlook).

Gyim-Austin said he does not know much about the man, but that would soon change through information coming through the diocese. He said the selection of the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi, does give insight into his position on Christ and the Church.

“Francis wants to be a humble person,” he said. “It is the Church of Christ and if you want to follow Christ then you must also be ready to live that humble life and that hopefully will resonate in his own life as well as in the entire church.”

Roman Catholic churchgoers have been praying for a new pope since Pope Benedict XVI stepped down Feb. 28 citing a lack of strength. This was the first resignation of a sitting pope in over 600 years.

Gyim-Austin said the resignation by Benedict XVI was hard to take at first, but he realized it was the right move for the Church as time went on. He said Benedict XVI was a good leader during his eight years as head of the Church and that is evident by his decision to resign when he felt he could no longer be an effective pastor.

“He did it for the sake of the Church,” he said. “When you know that you don’t have the strength anymore, and at his age also, he felt it was necessary that somebody could come up to continue the work.”

The Church is “rejoicing” now that a successor has been chosen, said Gyim-Austin, but there are no decisions made as of yet to how to mark the election of the new head of the Church.

“The diocese will give direction towards the celebration,” he said. “In our own local churches at our Eucharist celebrations we will mention (Pope Francis) and then the feeling will come naturally.”