INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The leader of Indiana’s largest Catholic diocese says many Catholics in this state are going to be thrilled that the new pope speaks their mother tongue.
Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin is referring to the many Indiana Catholics who grew up speaking Spanish.
Catholic cardinals elected Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to the papacy Wednesday. Bergoglio chose to be called Pope Francis I.
Tobin says he hopes Pope Francis, as the first pope from Latin America, will bring some universality to the church.
Tobin says the pope’s namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, was considered life-giving and healing, and “the new pope may have been recognizing that things have to be done and healed in the church.”