Charleston Catholics Celebrate Election of Pope Francis

Bells tolled while workers attached yellow and white bunting to the doors of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Wednesday as news of the election of Francis as the new head of the Roman Catholic Church spread.

The bunting, a display of the papal colors, will adorn Catholic Churches across the statewide diocese until Francis is officially installed sometime next week. On Thursday churches around the state will hold masses of thanksgiving to celebrate the election of a new pontiff, Charleston Bishop Robert Guglielmone said.

Guglielmone said he was surprised the Conclave of Cardinals in Rome selected a successor for Pope Benedict XVI so quickly.

"I expected it would go another day or two, but it's good news for us as Catholics," he said. "Most of the conclaves recently have been relatively short, so this is good. It's good news."

The election of Pope Francis marks a number of milestones for the 2,000-year-old church.

"It's certainly historic, I mean the first member of the Society of Jesus to be elected a pope, the first time we have a pope elected from anywhere outside Europe, that's historical, it really is," Guglielmone said. "I think it's a very practical response to the reality of the situation. First of all, in terms of a pope from Latin America, 42 percent, 45 percent of all the Catholics in the world are from Latin America, so it does make a lot of sense to have a pope that would come from that area."

In fact, Pope Francis is not the first non-European pope, that would have been Peter, who was from Galilea, but he the first non-European to hold the office since the middle of the 8th Century.

Guglielmone said he hopes the new pope will address the issue of evangelization, and help move the Catholic Church past many of the issues it has faced recently, including a widespread child sexual abuse scandal that has been plaguing the Church for several years.

"I would like to see the new pope address the whole issue of evangelization, and I think the fact that the cardinals elected someone from Latin America is an indication; that's where the Church is so strong at this point, that place, and of course in Africa as well. But I think that that's a sign we're going to see that whole issue of evangelization, a renewal, a deepening of spirituality, I think that's going to come true," he said. "I also think that he's a rather strong person and I think his whole approach to the management of the church, because a pope you know he's not only a spiritual leader, he's also has to manage the Church, and I think he's going to help us to overcome some of the difficulties we've seen in the last few years. That's my hope, and I think that certainly the prayer of so many people. We'd like to see the Church strengthened because we have so much to offer, but we've had some rough times."

Several students of Charleston Catholic School, which had just let out for the day as workers scaled ladders to install the yellow and white bunting stopped to watch.

"I'm really excited, I couldn't wait to see who it was," eighth-grader Callie Little said. "I think the Catholic Church will grow more now, it was a good choice."

"I think it's really cool to experience this at this young an age," 10-year-old Izzi Lindon said. "Luckily I'm old enough to know what's going on."

Lindon added that she was about 2 years old when Pope Benedict XVI was elected.