New Pope Francis Elected: Burlington-based Priest Reacts

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was named Pope Francis I today and the news was a bit of a surprise for Father John Capuci of Saint Malachy Catholic Church.

"My first reaction was 'who?" Capuci said in an interview with Patch.

"My next reaction was to find out more about him and I did some research."

Capuci said that after looking into the new Pope, he was happy with the decision of the Cardinals.

"He has great concern for the poor," he explained. "He did great outreach in Buenos Aires." 

Capuci added he was very happy to hear Pope Francis say he wanted to "evangelize Rome" and what that means for the church. 

"Rome has been the center of Catholicism for 2000 years," he said. "Somewhere along the line some Italians got tired of this church stuff - their city being the heart of Catholic tourists. They are Catholic but have loss some of the fervor for it. Its exciting to me that he wants to bring back the joy of what it means to be Catholic. That's very exciting."

Capuci said he hopes Pope Francis does the same thing for the church overall.

"My hope is what he wants to do in Rome is what he wants to do in whole world," he said. "The Catholic Church as an institution is phenomenal, but we’re not good at marketing it. I hope we’ll be able to show through his example, through his preaching, through his ministry, we’ll be able to show the world what we have to offer."

Capuci added he was also excited that the new Pope is from the Americas.

"When I first heard we had a non-European pope my first reaction – wow, the Cardinals have come to believe there is more to the church than just Europe. I was excited about that."

Finally, Capuci said he was moved when Pope Francis bowed in prayer before the crowd gathered at the Vatican.

"The way he presented himself was loving, warm, gentle and terrifically exciting," he said. "The fact that he bowed before the people in prayer says a lot about how he sees his role. One of the titles the Pope has is Servant of the Servants of God and I think we’ll see this in him."