Vatics Announcer: A sensational choice of pope

After VIK smoke, the Sixtin chapel’s chimney bolted out at 18 o’clock on Thursday evening, it was clear that the Catholic Church had a new pope.

– I think it’s one of the fastest elections in 100 years. It surprised, many thought it would take longer than the latest conclaves, says Ulla Gudmundson, writer and diplomat, who has previously been an ambassador for Sweden in the Vatican City.

The fact that it was 69-year-old Robert Prevost who stepped on the balcony of Peter’s Church shows that the Vatican chose to continue in the same direction as during Pope Francis, she explains.

– In his first speech he said that « God loves everyone ». It is a speech that Francis could hold. It emphasized a lot of love, mercy and building bridges.

She thinks the speech Come as a relief to the groups within the Catholic Church that live in « irregular life situations » according to the church. As people in same -sex marriage, or those who are distinguished and want to take communion.

– He said « God loves all people – regardless of life situation ». I imagine that that particular sentence was registered with relief.

The new Pope inherits a Catholic church with strong tension after Pope Francis. Robert Prevost seems to be aware of this and emphasized in his speech how he wanted to unite the Catholic Church.

– How he will then do that remains to be seen, says Gudmundson.

Above all, is The two qualities that characterize Robert Prevost and which may very well have affected the choice of him as a pope. He has partly been a missionary, something that is in demand for the new pope, and has distinguished himself as a good diplomat.

– He can stand up against other world leaders, such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

– But then we will see if he is a strong leader administratively for the church. You have to be that too, says Gudmundson, explaining that the Pope’s administration is like a Renaissanceshov.

In other words: difficult to control.