He then disclosed the source of the name: “Beside me was Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo and Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy: a great friend, a great friend!”
He consoled me when things became a bit risky. The Pope was elected, and the customary cheering erupted when the vote reached two-thirds.
“Remember the impoverished!” he said, giving me a hug and a kiss. The poor, the poor, was the term that entered here.
Then, right away, Francis of Assisi sprang to me as I thought about the impoverished.
On the night of his election, he stood on the balcony of St.
Peter’s Square and informed the millions of people watching live television and the thousands of devoted people below that the cardinals had gone to “the ends of the earth” in search of a new pope.
