A week in and it’s clear: Pope Francis is a man of surprises.
It started minutes after his election to the See of Saint Peter. He appeared on the loggia in a simple white cassock to greet the hundreds of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Before blessing the faithful and the merely curious in the traditional formula, Francis asked the crowd to bless him first in silent prayer. And for 30 seconds, they and hundreds of millions of people watching throughout the world joined in silent prayer for the new Holy Father.
That moment evidenced that Francis is clearly just that: holy. His closeness with all of us during these days of great trial and possibility is so clear. His predecessor, Benedict the Meek,…

As the world focuses in on Rome for the papal conclave, many are discussing what qualities are needed in the next Successor of Saint Peter. Our televisions are filled with pundits — some knowledgeable, others not — discussing the needs of the Church as we move into the future.
But it seems to me that there has been a voice missing in this conversation: that of the young.
This is unfortunate, because implicit in many of these discussions is the notion that Benedict’s papacy was somehow a failure.
I think many of us would disagree. And we should know, because perhaps more than anyone, our lives were affected by Joseph Ratzinger. We were too young to be part of the “JP II (John Paul II) generation.”…