Latinos are accepting of new pope

Some say Vatican missed chance to shift focus.

By Heather R. Higgins
and Tom Long
Adelante Staff

PLINO LEPRI/Associated Press
Pope Benedict XVI greets a group of sick during the General Audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on May 4. The choice of another European pope disappointed some Latino Catholics.

At Hispanic Mass on a recent Sunday, an old prayer that had been recited exactly the same way for 26 years changed: The prayer of the congregation of Sacred Heart Catholic Church for leaders in the church now included Pope Benedict XVI.

But change takes time to be accepted.

As Benedict XVI was becoming comfortable in his new role as pope, Latinos in Columbia were getting comfortable with his leadership.

“I think that Pope Benedict XVI is the best man to lead the church at this time,” the Rev. Michelino Roberto said. A visiting Brazilian priest from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, Roberto leads the Hispanic Mass at Sacred Heart in Columbia.

Although Latinos and others had expressed the hope that the College of Cardinals would elect a pope from Latin America, the Vatican continued the history of European rule. The decision disappointed some Columbia Latinos who had hoped for a pope with experience about the issues facing the developing world.

“A Latin pope would focus the church on the issue of Latin America,” Roberto Gutierrez said. A Sacred Heart parishioner and native of Jalisco, Mexico, Gutierrez added that the church needs to address the pervasive poverty in Latin America.

Almost half the world's Catholics reside in Latin America, with 28 percent living in South America alone, according to 2003 statistics from Beliefnet.com. However, the issues that face Latin America's Catholics — economic disparity, a shortage of priests and a rise in Protestant evangelization — are a world away from Vatican City.

Parishioner Lynette Caro acknowledged that the church needs to play a bigger role in evangelizing to the developing world so that people will “fall in love with Christ.” Despite hopes for a Latino pope, she said she was pleased with the appointment because it was a choice guided by the Holy Spirit.

"When the church sees the need for a Latin American pope to come, he will come," Caro said.

Fellow parishioner Jose Saenz, of Argentina, agreed, saying Latin American churches could be revitalized by a Latino pope. But he accepted the decision made by the cardinals because it came from a higher source, he said.

Roberto, who is originally from Sao Paolo, Brazil and co-celebrated a mass with John Paul II, said while the problems facing the church in Latin America are significant, he sees a greater mission for the new pope.

“I think that maybe if the pope came from South America that the pope would be better to face the problems of South America,” he said. “But the church is bigger than South America.”

Roberto explained that the most important task for the Catholic hierarchy is to create a universal church. He said he was pleased by the pope's early speeches in which he reiterated the calls of John Paul for an ongoing dialogue between representatives of the world's different religions.