"[H]e’s an Argentinian of Italian ethnic background (which must have been useful to his ambitions), considered 'unwaveringly orthodox' on the hot-button sexual issues (though he has also been conspicuously charitable towards AIDS sufferers), and although personally abstemious and sympathetic to the social needs of the poor, has also been a conservative influence on his own Society of Jesus, which he now represents as their first Pope. He’s the first non-European Pope in about twelve centuries, and the first Pope ever from a place that was not at some point part of the Roman Empire. He’s also 76 years old, and reportedly finished a fairly strong second in the enclave that elected Benedict XVI."If the description bears out, it's no surprise as far as the conservative orthodoxy (he was, after all, elevated to Cardinal by Pope John Paul II). No one was expecting a Pope John XXIII, since there are really no Cardinals to the left of Torquemada anymore thanks to John Paul II and Benedict.
(Photo: Pope Francis I - Getty Images)
