76 year-old Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an archbishop from Argentina, was recently elected pope. His election represents a major change because he is the first non-European pope in over 1,200 years. The question now, is will this change actually alter the church?

The Catholic Church has been facing many challenges in recent years, which include a shortage of priests, growing competition, sexual abuse crisis and church members challenging traditional, Catholic beliefs.

Pope Benedict was unable to appropriately handle many of these challenges, mainly the sexual abuse crisis. It was discovered that the offending priests were simply moved to a different parish. I, as a devoted Catholic who teaches religious education, found this shocking and extremely unacceptable.

A beloved, popular priest from my parish when I lived in Connecticut was brought up on charges of giving a troubled high school boy alcohol and possibly abusing the young man. We, however, never found out the truth. His actions were swept under the rug. He switched parishes and we never heard about him again.

These repetitive actions come from the top down. I truly believe that this new pope needs to step up and set an example for those below him.

Pope Benedict was only four years older than the newly elected Pope Francis. Pope Francis can be considered another “bridge” pope, which I find absolutely ridiculous because this concept was ineffective in the past. Similarly to Pope Benedict, Pope Francis will soon be unable to successfully complete his duties as a pope due to age. I hope that a pope retiring will be a one-time event, but it is not looking that way.

This is especially unfortunate because I love that Pope Francis is not from Italy; it will bring a new fresh perspective to the church. While some people believe there may be some alterations in traditional beliefs l, I do not believe that the Catholic Church will stray from their traditional values.

While I disagree with many of the Church’s beliefs on social issues, people use religion in a multitude of ways and no one view is normal. Each Catholic has a different interpretation of the Bible and uses parts of the faith to better their lives instead of being bogged down by the issues they disagree with the church on.

The critical challenge for Pope Francis will be to try and bring more positive light onto this centuries old religion. He will also need to effectively deal with the many problems that are currently plaguing the church. Pope Francis has said to have been genuinely concerned with helping the ill and the poor, which I find great. He is also perceived to be simple, which makes me believe he will lead the church back to more simplistic and prosperous times.

I am extremely excited to see this new pope in action and hope he leads the church in a bright, positive direction away from the many negative perceptions of the church.

To read about other Langley students’ reactions to Pope Francis’ election, click here.