Pope Benedict XVI had asked Catholics to pray for the new Pope.

And many of us did.

Many Catholics made novenas, prayed rosaries and offered their communions, some of us even 'adopted' Cardinals to support in prayer as they voted for a worthy successor to Pope Benedict; most likely millions of people joined in prayer asking God to give us a good Pope.  Perhaps some people even prayed for a particular Cardinal to be Pope, others prayed for a particular type of Pope.  Pope Benedict simply asked us to pray for the new Pope. 

I believe God made his choice. 

Some people are very unhappy with the choice.  Some are angry.  There may be some who doubt that it was God's choice at all.  Of course, there are others who think there isn't any Pope at all, that the See is vacant, and has been since Pius XII died.

That would be their choice.

Some thoughts from Pope Francis to his Cardinals:

A thought full of grateful affection and deep gratitude goes to my venerated predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

"A thought full of grateful affection and deep gratitude - he continued - goes to my venerated predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who during the years of his papacy has enriched and strengthened the Church with his teaching, his kindness, his guidance, his faith, his humility and gentleness that will remain a spiritual heritage for everyone. The Petrine ministry, lived with total dedication, had a wise and humble interpreter in him, with his eyes still fixed on Christ, the risen Christ present and alive in the Eucharist. He will always be in our fervent prayers, our unceasing remembrance, our undying gratitude and affection. We feel that Benedict XVI has ignited a flame at the bottom of our hearts: it will continue to burn because it will be fueled by his prayer, which still support the Church in its spiritual and missionary journey. "
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Another reference to Benedict XVI who "recalled many times in his teachings and, most recently, with the brave and humble gesture", it "is Christ who guides the Church through his Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church with its life-giving and unifying force: he makes one body of many, the Mystical Body of Christ. " 

"Let us never give in to pessimism, a bitterness that the devil offers us every day: Never give in to pessimism and discouragement, we have the firm conviction that the Holy Spirit gives the Church, with his mighty breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Christian truth is attractive and persuasive because it answers the deep need of human existence, announcing convincingly that Christ is the only Saviour of all man and of all men. This announcement remains as valid today as it was at the beginning of Christianity, when the first great missionary expansion of the Gospel took place. " - AsiaNews

 

The Pope and the Cross

Last evening I watched the last part of a film on Paul VI on EWTN - I saw a part of it last weekend as well.  It was quite good - at least I liked it.  I also liked Paul VI very much.  One evening several years ago, I was visiting a priest in his apartment on the campus of a local university.  Another priest professor stopped by and we talked for quite a long time.  Somehow Paul VI came up and I told how thrilled I was to be so close to him at his Masses whenever I was in Rome.  Somewhat enthusiastically I blurted out, "I loved him - I think he was a great pope."  The other guest corrected me and stated in an imperious tone, "I wouldn't say he was great..." and went on to list all the reasons he wasn't a very good pope. 
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I left rather bewildered.  Before that evening, the only people I had ever heard criticize the pope so harshly had been secularists, radical progressives and ultra traditionalists.  The things that priest said that evening remain in my memory as if I was hearing them for the first time.  The cursing, the use of God's name, the invective against the pope.  Perhaps it was the brandy speaking.  It remains one more reason why I have kept my distance from church people.
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Anyway - I don't know the name of the film on Paul VI, but if you do get a chance to see it, it would be good to watch.  If one looks for an authentic hermeneutic of continuity it can be located in the person of the Pope - contrary to what the grand historians, liturgists, and theological geniuses may tell you. 
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Anyway - for your edification...
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... [T]he message of the Cross has been entrusted to us, so that we can offer hope to the world. When we proclaim Christ crucified we are proclaiming not ourselves, but him. We are not offering our own wisdom to the world, nor are we claiming any merit of our own, but we are acting as channels for his wisdom, his love, his saving merits. We know that we are merely earthenware vessels, and yet, astonishingly, we have been chosen to be heralds of the saving truth that the world needs to hear. Let us never cease to marvel at the extraordinary grace that has been given to us, let us never cease to acknowledge our unworthiness, but at the same time let us always strive to become less unworthy of our noble calling, lest through our faults and failings we weaken the credibility of our witness. - Benedict XVI  In Cyprus, On the Cross

Accompanying the Holy Father in Portugal

"Mercy and truth have met, justice and peace have kissed."  Penance and the cross.
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If one is physically prevented from going on a pilgrimage one may always do so in spirit.  I have been anticipating the Holy Father's pilgrimage to Portugal, 'where the dogma of Faith will always be preserved' - the promise of Our Lady at Fatima.  The visit of a reigning pope to any Marian shrine is always significant, but none more so than to Fatima, since the apparition in 1917 were very much concerned with the pope and the Church.  This week I will unite my prayer and activities to the Holy Father, praying with him and especially for him.  In this way I will be at his side spiritually, listening and praying.
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Diehard Fatimists
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Anticipating his pilgrimage, the skeptics - no not those who deny that Our Lady really did appear in 1917 - but those who insist the secret of Fatima, revealed by Our Lady, has not been disclosed in its entirety.  In their denial, these otherwise good people harshly criticize members of the hierarchy as well as former Cardinal Ratzinger, claiming the entire third part of the secret has not been revealed.  In doing so, they foment dissent and the critical spirit, casting doubts upon the authority of the Church to govern, direct and rule on such matters.  Indeed, these scoffers resemble those who advocate purported apparitions and messages elsewhere in the world which are not approved by the Catholic Church.  They seek to isolate the messages of Fatima and somehow make it into a sort of parallel gospel, or their private Book of Revelation.  In effect, they derange the apostolate into something of a cult, offering speculative theories as to what Our Lady revealed to the children in 1917, as if their ideas were fact.
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On the other hand, no one is more reasonable and grounded in the faith as our Holy Father, and he never sensationalizes the message of Fatima.  In fact, he seems to me to have penetrated to the essential component of the message, "Penance, penance, penance."  Priests and laity must understand that the so-called third secret was intended for the Holy Father - it has always been up to the Pope's discretion to reveal it or not.  I hardly think that JPII and his curia would lie to the Church and the world when they announced that the complete secret has been revealed, or when they revealed from Sr. Lucy that Heaven had accepted the consecration of Russia as it was performed by JPII and the bishops of the world.  As many whose devotion has been enriched by the message of Fatima know already, these are matters some Catholic diehard Fatimists in the so-called "Fatima Challenge" movement contest.
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What the Pope says about his pilgrimage.
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LISBON — In his most direct condemnation of the sexual abuse crisis that has swept the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday said that the “sins inside the church” posed the greatest threat to Catholicism, adding that “forgiveness does not substitute justice.”
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“Attacks on the pope and the church come not only from outside the church, but the suffering of the church comes from inside the church, from sins that exist inside the church. This we have always known but today we see it in a really terrifying way,” Benedict told reporters aboard his plane en route to Portugal.
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“The greatest persecution of the church does not come from the enemies outside, but is born from sin inside the church,” he added. “The church has a profound need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn on the one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. And forgiveness does not substitute justice.”
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In his remarks, Benedict appeared to distance himself from other church officials who in recent weeks have criticized the news media for focusing on the sex abuse crisis, which they called attacks on the church.
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On the plane, Benedict told reporters that the church had to relearn “conversion, prayer, penance.”** - NYT

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As Benedict XVI arrived in Portugal he announced: 

"'I come as a pilgrim to Our Lady of Fatima", said the Pope at the beginning of his address, "invested from on high with the mission of confirming my brothers and sisters as they advance on their own pilgrimage towards heaven'". - VIS

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**The following is a more complete text from an earlier interview with the Pope: 
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"In terms of what we today can discover in this Our Lady's message, attacks against the pope or the church don’t come just from outside the church. The suffering of the church also comes from within the church, because sin exists in the church. This too has always been known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way. The greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside, but is born in sin within the church. The church thus has a deep need to re-learn penance, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. Forgiveness does not exclude justice. We have to re-learn the essentials: conversion, prayer, penance, and the theological virtues. That’s how we respond, and we can be realistic in expecting that evil will always launch attacks from within and from outside, but the forces of good are also always present, and finally the Lord is stronger than evil. The Madonna for us is the visible maternal guarantee that the will of God is always the last word in history." - NCR

Pray for the Holy Father.