Pope Francis: 12 years of pontificate

This year, the 12th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis is unique, due to the fact that the Holy Father spends it in hospital, fighting bilateral pneumonia. Prayers for the wellness of the 88-year-old Pope are held in the Vatican, churches in Rome and around the world.

On 13 March 2013, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, metropolitan of the capital of Argentina – Buenos Aires, was elected in the 5th vote, on the second day of the conclave, convened at a dramatic minute in the past of the Church, after the resignation of Benedict XVI, which caused a immense shock. This has not been the case in 700 years.

Cardinal Bergoglio arrived in the Vatican after he resigned from the office of Archbishop of Buenos Aires at the end of 2011, with the age of 75, or the retirement age. However, Benedict XVI then asked him to stay in office. The shock of the abdication of the Pope prevailed not only among the faithful, but besides among the cardinal-electors. They entered the conclave profoundly divided.

From the unofficial information that followed the conclave in the following years, Bergoglio received rather a large number of votes, which grew with each subsequent vote. He received much little votes previously regarded as the favourite Archbishop of Milan Cardinal Angelo Scola. According to unofficial information, Buenos Aires metropolitan received 77 votes, much more than he needed to choose.

His choice was a complete surprise, especially for the Italian Episcopal, who was so convinced that the next pope would be Cardinal Scola, that congratulations had already appeared on the website of the Bishops' Conference. The 266th Pope was the first typical from the American continent, but besides the descendants of Italian expatriates who followed the bread to Argentina. He was the first bishop of Rome in past to adopt the name Francis, inspired by the figure of Saint Francis of Assisi.

The first hours and days after the election of Francis brought further surprises and surprises. They were all announcements of extremist change. erstwhile the fresh Pope went out on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica on 13 March, he said 2 words that også had announced a fresh era in the Vatican. He greeted the faithful by simply saying "good evening." They were then repeatedly cited as a symbol of the choice of a simple and direct Papacy style.

Francis then told the faithful: “You know that the conclave task was to give Rome a bishop. My cardinal brothers seem to have gone to find him almost at the end of the world." He added: “Now let us begin this common way, the bishop and the people, the way of the Church of Rome, which leads in love among all the Churches. It is the way of brotherhood, love and common trust. Let us always pray for us, for 1 another. Let us pray for the full planet to have a large brotherhood.”

The Pope said: “I would like to give you a blessing, but first I ask you a favor. Before the bishop blesses the people, I ask you to pray to the Lord for my blessing. Prayer of the people asking for the blessing of their bishop. Let us say in silence this prayer for me.” He asked, “Pray for me.” Francis repeats these words all the time. The current regular prayers for his wellness in the Vatican are besides a consequence to this request.

Even more Francis amazed the next day after the conclave, erstwhile in the morning a simple Vatican car went without entourage to pray to the Basilica of Our woman the Greater and then to a hotel for priests – Casa dell Clero, where he lived after arriving in Rome. He personally took his suitcases and paid the bill at the reception desk.

On that day in the afternoon, the fresh Pope and the cardinal-electors celebrated Mass in the Sistine Chapel in the intention of the Church. In his first improvised homily, he presented his imagination of the Church by saying, "Through all decision in our lives, let us build." We can build many things, but if we don't confess Jesus Christ, it won't help. Then we will become a non-governmental aid organization, but not the Church, the Bride of Christ.

When individual doesn't go, they stand still. erstwhile individual doesn't build on rocks, what happens? What happens to children on the beach, erstwhile they build sand castles, everything falls apart," he added. He besides spoke about his expectations a fewer days later during a gathering with journalists. The Pope confessed: “I would very much like the Church to be mediocre and for the poor.” Those words were considered to be his programming declaration.

He explained that just after the result of the last vote was known, Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil told him, "Don't forget the poor." The pontificate was inaugurated on 19 March and was attended by about 200,000 people.

Four days later, there was an unprecedented event in the past of the Church: the fresh pope went to his residence in Castel Gandolfo to meet his retired predecessor Benedict XVI, who lived there after his abdication. The retired pope gave him a box full of documents.

On the 10th anniversary of his election, Francis, recalling the conclave, jokingly stated: “I have sacrificed the Holy Spirit.” In an interview with the Spanish Catholic magazine “Vida Nueva” he confessed that he was completely unprepared for specified a decision of the cardinals, and before going to the conclave he left in Buenos Aires the texts of sermons he was expected to give after returning from Rome on Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday.

He emphasized that in the Sistine Chapel, he did not care even erstwhile his name was read in parts of the cards after the first vote. He mentioned that the cardinals from Cuba and Chile made various hints about this. "But I ignored it," he said.

Francis besides told that a group of European cardinals wanted to talk to him at breakfast before the vote, and to Cardinal Ravasi talked so long that they both almost at the last minute entered the Sistine Chapel just before closing her door.

After a severe illness with which the pope has been struggling for weeks, the new, future expression of his pontificate stands in question. At the moment, it is only known that after it has been concluded that there is no longer a direct threat to life, treatment and recovery will take a long time.

Perhaps Francis will return from the infirmary to the Vatican before the large Week, but his participation in these ceremonies seems alternatively impossible. A year ago, on the 11th anniversary of his election, the Pope confessed, recalling his infirmary stays: “Some were more curious in politics, in campaigning, reasoning almost about the fresh conclave.”

Relax, it's human, there's nothing to get worse. erstwhile the pope is in the hospital, there are many thoughts, and there are those who speculate for their profits or for their earnings in newspapers," he said. He thinks that Peter’s successor’s ministry is for life, so I do not see the conditions for resignation.

Things would have changed if I had suffered serious physical disabilities, and in this case I signed a letter of resignation at the beginning of the pontificate, which is deposited with the State Secretariat," he explained. He added: If this had happened, I would not have been called a retired pope, but simply a retired bishop of Rome, and would have moved to the Basilica of Our woman the Greater, to be a confessor again and to give communion to the sick.

Due to the anniversary of the election, the Vatican News portal published the text "A weakened voice and a mastery of fragility". His title refers, among another things, to the publication of a short recording of the pope, who with a weak voice thanked the faithful for their prayers for his health.

The Vatican media portal stressed: "The information published in fresh medical bulletins is promising, the negotiations are positive; the hope of the Pope's fast return to the Vatican increases. However, the anniversary of the beginning of the pontificate is undoubtedly different for the Holy Father.”

The successor of Saint Peter, sharing the destiny of many sick, suffers and prays for peace, and is accompanied by a choir of those praying around the world. He, who in the past 12 years has not erstwhile completed the meeting, the catechesis or the prayer of the Angel of the Lord in any another way than with the words "and please, do not forget to pray for me," experiences present the prayers and proximity of many kind to him, believers and unbelievers," wrote Andrea Tornielli.

We look with tenderness and hope towards the windows on the 10th level of Gemelli Polyclinic. We thank Pope Francis for this mastery of frailty, for his weak voice, which in fresh days united with the voices of the rosary praying in St Peter's Square. A fragile voice, which inactive calls for peace, not war, to dialogue, not oppression, to compassion and not indifference, is noted on the Vatican News website.