Tag: conclave

	This column is the bishop’s communation with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

We have a pope! Habemus Papam! Last week, even as the Catholic Herald was finding its way to your homes, the Holy Spirit, working through the College of Cardinals, gave to us a new Holy Father, Pope Francis.

He is, as you have surely noticed on your own and through even the secular media reports, a “Pope of firsts” — he is the first Pope from the “new world” — an Argentinian, the first Pope who was trained as a Jesuit priest, the first Pope to take the name Francis — taking that name especially in honor of the much beloved (though often misunderstood) St. Francis of Assisi.

We are just getting to know our Holy Father, but already there is a great deal that sets him apart and helps us to know who he is.

	This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

We are right in the midst of our Year of Faith and at the heart of an attempt to undertake what both Blessed John Paul the Great and Pope Emeritus Benedict have called us to — that is, a “New Evangelization.” And not only that, but we find ourselves in the era of a new pope. As I write this column the Conclave has yet to begin, but by the time you are reading it, it is quite possible that we will have a new Pope.