The Cardinal
On March 31st, 2018, I will be fully initiated into the Catholic Church. I will receive the sacraments of Confirmation and Communion, which is something that I have longed for for a couple years.
My story is simple, fundamentally rooted in God’s grace working in the world. There are many touching moments in my life where I can say, “Ahh, see, God is really at work here.” In filling out the information sheet for the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), one of the questions was, “Who inspired you to join RCIA?” In retrospect, one of the answers I should have given was His Holiness, Pope Francis.
At the time I was just leaving middle school and entering into high school. It was at this point that I was beginning to understand, even though it was at a basic level, the things that were happening around me. The election of Pope Francis would prove to change the course of my life in a way that I could not have predicted. His election proved to be a Porta Sancta of sorts, a Holy Door in which I could peek in and observe the Catholic Church.
Countless centuries of snow, rain and runoff weather a mountain, and in a similar way, time was an effective weapon at softening my soul. Pope Francis was one of the elements in this process. I don’t mean to speak ill of his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, for whom I have a deep respect for, but in my 15-year-old mind, there was something that set Francis apart, and that was his accessibility and availability to all peoples .
Many people, have and continue to describe how Pope Francis would be a mover and shaker in the Church, bringing it more in line with our current, modern values. As someone who knew very little about where the Catholic Church stood, I was less interested in knowing how Pope Francis would/could change it and was more interested in learning about what it actually stood for. By this point in my life, I had read the Bible at least once cover to cover, so I had a basic knowledge of the texts, and an elemental understanding of Christianity. I was given a book that was written by Jorge Mario Bergoglio called, “Open Mind, Faithful Heart” and to be honest, it blew my mind. The depth with which he talked about various parts of the Bible, and particularly the Gospels, was amazing to me, and it caused a deep stirring in my heart.
Looking at Pope Francis today, even amidst the climate of Amoris Laetitia, the Dubia, and the recent Filial Correction issued in September, my opinion of him has changed very little, since I first encountered him at 15. He is the Pope that the Church needs now, amidst the rise of a growingly relativist society.He has presented himself to the world in humility and has laid an emphasis on God’s mercy for the world, as with the extraordinary Year of Mercy that was celebrated in 2016. He is the Pontifex Maximus i.e the great build bridger, and I cannot wait to be brought into the fold that he has been charged to shepherd.
-Samuel Stagliano 1st year student at Corpus Christi College and currently in the process of becoming Catholic.
My story is simple, fundamentally rooted in God’s grace working in the world. There are many touching moments in my life where I can say, “Ahh, see, God is really at work here.” In filling out the information sheet for the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), one of the questions was, “Who inspired you to join RCIA?” In retrospect, one of the answers I should have given was His Holiness, Pope Francis.
The Election of Pope Francis on March 13, 2013.
At the time I was just leaving middle school and entering into high school. It was at this point that I was beginning to understand, even though it was at a basic level, the things that were happening around me. The election of Pope Francis would prove to change the course of my life in a way that I could not have predicted. His election proved to be a Porta Sancta of sorts, a Holy Door in which I could peek in and observe the Catholic Church.
Countless centuries of snow, rain and runoff weather a mountain, and in a similar way, time was an effective weapon at softening my soul. Pope Francis was one of the elements in this process. I don’t mean to speak ill of his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, for whom I have a deep respect for, but in my 15-year-old mind, there was something that set Francis apart, and that was his accessibility and availability to all peoples .
Many people, have and continue to describe how Pope Francis would be a mover and shaker in the Church, bringing it more in line with our current, modern values. As someone who knew very little about where the Catholic Church stood, I was less interested in knowing how Pope Francis would/could change it and was more interested in learning about what it actually stood for. By this point in my life, I had read the Bible at least once cover to cover, so I had a basic knowledge of the texts, and an elemental understanding of Christianity. I was given a book that was written by Jorge Mario Bergoglio called, “Open Mind, Faithful Heart” and to be honest, it blew my mind. The depth with which he talked about various parts of the Bible, and particularly the Gospels, was amazing to me, and it caused a deep stirring in my heart.
Looking at Pope Francis today, even amidst the climate of Amoris Laetitia, the Dubia, and the recent Filial Correction issued in September, my opinion of him has changed very little, since I first encountered him at 15. He is the Pope that the Church needs now, amidst the rise of a growingly relativist society.He has presented himself to the world in humility and has laid an emphasis on God’s mercy for the world, as with the extraordinary Year of Mercy that was celebrated in 2016. He is the Pontifex Maximus i.e the great build bridger, and I cannot wait to be brought into the fold that he has been charged to shepherd.
-Samuel Stagliano 1st year student at Corpus Christi College and currently in the process of becoming Catholic.
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