Will this Pope Change Anything?

Habemus Papam! We have a pope!

First I have to admit that I teared up watching the live video of Pope Francis' first words to the world even though I had no idea what he was saying. Anyone else?

Also, how blown away were you when he asked for prayers from us first? That was such a cool moment to watch as St. Peter's Square became silent. The Church praying in unison for our Vicar of Christ.

There were so many cool Catholic moments :)

But do you know what one of my favorite moments were? I don't know if anyone else picked up on this as they were watching EWTN, but the female commentator asked a certain question differently than the rest of the world has been. It seems everywhere I turn lately since Pope Benedict's retirement announcement I see articles and people asking, "What do you want the new pope to change?" or "What  do you hope the new pope will do differently?" I'm wasn't sure why, but those questions felt like the wrong ones.

But the lady on EWTN I think got it right. She saids something like, "What do you think the new pope will focus on during his papacy?" BINGO!

That one word, "focus," made all the difference in my mind. The pope is not a part of our Church to change it or to lead it in the way he thinks it should be led. As Vicar of Christ, he's supposed to be just that, an earthly representation of Christ, and as such lead the Church according to the truth of the Gospels and scripture in general.

If you are hoping for "change" within the Church's teachings, I'm sorry to say I think you'll be disappointed. The pope is not meant to "change" Christ's teachings. That would be a direct violation of his role. However, he most certainly can focus our Church to certain areas that need attention. One of Pope Benedict XVI's areas of focus was on evangelization whereas Pope John Paul II had a special interest in the youth and in areas of the body. Each were pivotal in that pope's leadership of the Church, especially for the time.

I'm really excited to see where Pope Francis shines the spotlight during his papacy, and how the Church's eyes will focus on it. Regardless, I trust that God's will has been done, and congrats Church family on your new holy father!