Dear Friends,

Habemus Papam - We have a Pope! March 13th, 2013 is a red-letter day in the history of the Church for Pope Francis was elected as the new Pontiff of the universal Church. I have been closely watching the pre-Conclave General Assemblies of the Cardinals and also the Conclave that followed. The Cardinal electors chose Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, as the successor of His Holiness Benedict XVI over two-thirds majority in the 5th round of the election. The new pontiff within a very short period has won the hearts of millions of people worldwide and, I am sure, he is going to bring in a lot of changes within and outside the Church. While congratulating him on your behalf, I wish him a fruitful Petrine Ministry. As we are in the Easter season, let us draw inspiration for our daily lives from the new Pontiff, Pope Francis. His first homily to the Cardinals delivered in the Sistine Chapel contained three meaningful words: journey, building, confessing. First, Pope Francis said "Our life is a journey and when we stop, it does not go on... Journey always in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness that God asked of Abraham" - when God called Abraham to follow he obediently followed. Second, Pope Francis said "Building is another form of movement in our life." He said we are "building the Church, the Bride of Christ, upon that cornerstone that is the Lord Himself." Third and last, Pope Francis said "Confessing. We can journey as much as we want, we can build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, nothing works. We will become a welfare NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of Christ."