The First Latin American Pope When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope in 2013, the Catholic Church crossed a historic threshold. For the first time, the Bishop of Rome came from Latin America, carrying with him the faith, wounds, and hopes of an entire continent. Pope Francis did not simply arrive from the New World\u2014he brought a new way of seeing, speaking, and walking with the people of God. White Smoke and a New Sound Never before had a Pope come from Argentina. Never before had the Catholic Church chosen a pontiff from the New World. For many in Latin America, the moment the white smoke appeared was accompanied by a sound that felt unfamiliar\u2014and immediately intimate. Rodrigo Guerra, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Latin America, remembers that \u201call of a sudden, the white smoke announced a man who at first did not sound Italian and suddenly we became aware that it was a dear friend of many years, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who had been elected pontiff of the Catholic Church.\u201d That realization unfolded almost instantly into something deeper. \u201cWe said he is one of ours,\u201d Guerra recalls, explaining that it was \u201cthe feeling that someone who knows our streets, our people, who has smelled Latin America, who knows how Latin American popular religiosity is modulated, was elected Vicar of Christ\u2026 what a very, very profound experience.\u201d Between the Origins and the Living Face of Today What Francis brought to Rome was not simply a different accent, but a theological vision forged in Latin America. Italian philosopher and politician Rocco Buttiglione explains that \u201cthere is one fundamental feature that Pope Francis brings with himself, from Argentina, from Latin America to Rome: a living dialogue between the tradition of the origins and the experience of the living face of today.\u201d That dialogue, Buttiglione notes, holds together two dimensions that must never be separated. \u201cOn the one hand, you have the faith of the people, the popular piety, that in Latin America has become enormously important, and that is the basis of the Theology of the People and of Culture of Pope Francis.\u201d At the same time, \u201cyou have the origins. You have a dogmatic theology that has the task of defending the origins, and you have a popular, a pastoral theology that has to elaborate the faith of the people today, and they must stand continually in relation to one another.\u201d The Walk of the Neighborhood, the Walk of the Church Francis\u2019 vision was visible from the very beginning, even in the smallest details. In the Villas Miserias of Buenos Aires, the poorest neighborhoods of the city, people recognized it immediately. Father Adri\u00e1n Bennardis remembers how \u201cthe first images showed the shoes.\u201d For him, that detail said everything. \u201cWell, that sums it up for you: he took the walk he had in the neighborhood. He took it to his walk in the Universal Church.\u201d What many described as closeness, Bennardis insists, was something deeper: \u201cI was talking about closeness and I think it is a theological question, yes, the theology of God’s closeness.\u201d Francis brought that theology with him, along with realism and openness. \u201cHe brought the Church that does not look away when there is a problem but assumes it, even if it makes mistakes, right?\u201d Bennardis says, recalling the Pope\u2019s words from the very first day: \u201cI prefer a church in the field to a Church locked up in the sacristy.\u201d That \u201cchurch in the field,\u201d he explains, \u201chas been here in these popular neighbourhoods from their beginnings more than 50 years ago.\u201d And Francis, he adds, \u201cbasically took that to Rome. He took that \u2018poor church for the poor,\u2019 here in Buenos Aires, there.\u201d A Church Marked by Martyrdom Along with that pastoral style, Francis carried with him the memory of suffering. Bennardis explains that \u201che carried the martyrdoms of the 20th century with him, he carried those martyrdoms that sowed the seeds of this Church that is Latin America.\u201d It is, he says, \u201ca young Church, an open Church, a Church in dialogue with reality, a Church that is not afraid to get dirty, an inculturated Church.\u201d That, Bennardis concludes, \u201cis what he brought. And surely the Holy Spirit will continue to give new breaths of life even after Francis.\u201d Hearing a Pope Speak with Our Accent The election of Francis was not only an Argentine first. Across Spanish-speaking countries, Catholics felt newly represented. Colombian priest Father Jer\u00f3nimo Espinosa points out that \u201cPope Benedict and then John Paul II, they spoke great Spanish, but it\u2019s different to hear him with a different accent, an Argentinian accent.\u201d For many, he explains, \u201cto hear him in our own language, it was a beautiful moment,\u201d especially because \u201che understood us and he knew where we were coming from and knew where we wanted to be too.\u201d That connection became unmistakable at World Youth Day. \u201cWe were like 3 million people in Copacabana and it was an amazing experience,\u201d Espinosa recalls. \u201cTo hear him in our own language and of course that World Youth Day was of course tons and tons of Latin Americans and from there it was like, OK, this is how it\u2019s going to be. Not in a bad way, but it was just different.\u201d A Latin Way of Speaking the Faith Mexican Archbishop Jorge Carlos Patr\u00f3n Wong, who worked closely with Francis in Rome for eight years, describes the Pope as a unique balance of strength and freshness. \u201cSo there is a combination of maturity and youth and Pope Francis is noticeable because there is a theological and ecclesiastical maturity but at the same time a very practical dynamism.\u201d That dynamism, he adds, is unmistakably Latin American. It shows above all in communication. \u201cThe language of Pope Francis, his way of communicating is very Latin American, with words, gestures, images that are very close to the people but that have an extraordinary theological and religious depth.\u201d A Pope Who Never Left Latin America Behind Throughout his pontificate, Francis returned again and again to Latin America. Emilce Cuda recalls that \u201cin Brazil, the connection with young people\u2014who are not the future but the present\u2014supporting the Pope and the youth of Pope Francis was very significant.\u201d She points to Chile and Bolivia, especially \u201cthe meeting with popular movements, and his address in Santa Cruz de la Sierra,\u201d where Francis insisted \u201cthat there is a need to turn passion into community action, which I would say is politics\u2014and the best kind of politics.\u201d In Colombia, \u201cwhere this historic, long, and slow journey of social dialogue and peace was taking place,\u201d his presence mattered deeply, \u201cto bring visibility to the process and to listen to all voices.\u201d And in Mexico, she remembers that \u201chis messages to the bishops and his dialogue with them were among the strongest I can recall\u2026 while also maintaining a spirit of reconciliation.\u201d In every country, Cuda concludes, \u201cthe Pope has touched precisely those key issues that serve as the foundation for a hopeful future.\u201d A Pope Seen as a Person For Latinos in the United States, sharing a culture with Francis offered a particular closeness. Jose Manuel de Urquidi explains that \u201cI think it has been a very unique thing for Latinos to see he’s a person, right?\u201d Unlike previous pontificates, \u201cwe\u2019ve never had a Pope that was chosen as a Pope and then he became this angel or this living Saint, not at all.\u201d Instead, Francis feels familiar. \u201cHe has been very close and he’s spontaneous sometimes he says things that we Latinos get because of the context or the culture or the background and the lived experiences,\u201d de Urquidi says, noting that \u201cmaybe it\u2019s easier for us to understand that than maybe other people in other cultures.\u201d Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channel today EWTN Vatican on WhatsApp EWTN Would you like to receive the latest updates on the Pope and the Vatican Receive articles and updates from our EWTN Newsletter. 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