Jorge Mario Bergoglio: Challenges Before 266th Pope of Roman Catholic Church

The world had had a few seconds to prepare itself. The French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran who made the announcement Habemus Papem — in medieval Latin revealed two things. The first was the name Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The second was the name he had chosen — Francis.

Francis, the first pope from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order, bowed to the crowds in St Peter's Square and asked for their blessing in a hint of the humble style he cultivated while trying to modernize Argentina’s conservative church and move past a messy legacy of alleged complicity during the rule of the military junta of 1976-83.

About New Pope

Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital city, December 17, 1936. He studied and received a master's degree in chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires, but later decided to become a Jesuit priest and studied at the Jesuit seminary of Villa Devoto. He also studied liberal arts in Santiago, Chile, and in 1960 earned a degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of Buenos Aires. Between 1964 and 1965 he was a teacher of literature and psychology at Inmaculada high school in the province of Santa Fe, and in 1966 he taught the same courses at the prestigious Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires.

In 1967, he returned to his theological studies and was ordained a priest Dec. 13, 1969. After his perpetual profession as a Jesuit in 1973, he became master of novices at the Seminary of Villa Barilari in San Miguel. Later that same year, he was elected superior of the Jesuit province of Argentina.

In 1980, he returned to San Miguel as a teacher at the Jesuit school, a job rarely taken by a former provincial superior. In May 1992 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. He was one of three auxiliaries and he kept a low profile, spending most of his time caring for the Catholic university, counseling priests and preaching and hearing confessions. In June 1997, he was named coadjutor archbishop. He was installed as the new archbishop of Buenos Aires in February 1998. Since 1998, he has been archbishop of Buenos Aires, where his style is low-key and close to the people.

Francis, the son of middle-class Italian immigrants, came close to becoming pope during the last conclave in 2005. He reportedly gained the second-highest vote total in several rounds of voting before he bowed out of the running before selection of Vatican insider Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI.

With the name Bergoglio, we knew some decisive changes had been set in train. The Archbishop of Buenos Aires is the first non-European pope for 1,000 years. He is the first pope from the New World, most specifically from Latin America where the majority of the planet’s 1.2 billion Catholics live. He is the first pope ever from the Jesuits, the order renowned for having produced some of the most intellectually profound, and often free-thinking, church minds over the centuries.

With the name Francis came a signal of another new departure. No pope had ever before taken the name of the great saint of the poor, Francis of Assisi. And Bergoglio was known for his commitment to social justice and his championing of the poor of his native Argentina in the teeth of a global economic crisis whose cost fell chiefly upon the shoulders of the most vulnerable.

Seventy-six-year-old Bergoglio, it was known, was a humble man who had moved out of his archiepiscopal palace and into a simple apartment. He gave up his chauffeur-driven car and takes the bus to work. He cooks his own meals.

Unlike many of the other papal contenders, Bergoglio never held a top post inside the Vatican administration, or curia. This outsider status could pose obstacles in attempts to reform the Vatican, which has been hit with embarrassing disclosures from leaked documents alleging financial cover-ups and internal feuds.
But the conclave appeared more swayed by Bergoglio's reputation for compassion on issues such as poverty and the effects of globalization, and his fealty to traditional church teachings such as opposition to birth control.
His overriding image, though, is built around his leaning toward austerity. The motto chosen for his archdiocese is "Miserando Atque Eligendo,'' or "Lowly but Chosen.''
Even after he became Argentina's top church official in 2001, he never lived in the ornate church mansion where Pope John Paul II stayed when visiting the country, preferring a simple bed in a downtown building, warmed by a small stove on frigid weekends when the building turned off the heat. For years, he took public transportation around the city, and cooked his own meals. Yet Bergoglio has been tough on hard-line conservative views among his own clerics, including those who refused to baptize the children of unmarried women.

Charges Against New Pope             

Bergoglio, whose official name is Pope Francis, without a Roman numeral, also was accused of turning his back on a family that lost five relatives to state terror, including a young woman who was five months' pregnant before she was kidnapped and killed in 1977. The De la Cuadra family appealed to the leader of the Jesuits in Rome, who urged Bergoglio to help them; Bergoglio then assigned a monsignor to the case. Months passed before the monsignor came back with a written note from a colonel: The woman had given birth in captivity to a girl who was given to a family "too important'' for the adoption to be reversed.

Despite this written evidence in a case he was personally involved with, Bergoglio testified in 2010 that he didn't know about any stolen babies until well after the dictatorship was over.

Preferences and Actions

His preference to remain in the wings, however, has been challenged by rights activists seeking answers about church actions during the dictatorship after the 1976 coup, often known as Argentina's "Dirty War.'' Many Argentines remain angry over the church's acknowledged failure to openly confront a regime that was kidnapping and killing thousands of people as it sought to eliminate "subversive elements'' in society. It is one reason why more than two-thirds of Argentines describe themselves as Catholic, but less than 10 percent regularly attend Mass.

Under Bergoglio's leadership, Argentina's bishops issued a collective apology in October 2012 for the church's failures to protect its flock. But the statement blamed the era's violence in roughly equal measure on both the junta and its enemies.

Challenges before Pope

Pope Francis will have a tough job ahead of him. The Catholic Church has been seen as an organisation facing the pressure of modernisation. It has been scarred by child sex abuse scandals and in recent years, also by infighting, even corruption in the Vatican bureaucracy. The new pontiff is not a Vatican insider. This could well be to his advantage as he uses his dedication, energy and skills to clean up what his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, called the “filth” in the church. Pope Francis must build on his known love for the poor and his association with the area that has the largest number of Catholics in the world to leave a lasting legacy.

The former Bishop of Buenos Aires is the first non-European Pope in the modern era; he is the first Pope to hail from Latin America, the first Jesuit to hold the revered post; and he is also the first to take on the name ‘Francis’ after St Francis of Assisi. That is not all. During the course of his first public appearance itself, Pope Francis I broke with tradition — not once but twice — as he refused to stand upon a pedestal that would elevate him above the other Cardinals who stood by him. Instead, he chose to “stay down here”, and surprised many again when he asked the people to pray for him first, before he blessed the crowd. On both the occasions that the newly named Pope steered away from convention, he appeared to strengthen his image as a humble pastor, not given to the pomp of the Vatican, but instead, committed to serving his people — much like his namesake St Francis of Assisi who chose to live in poverty and who remains one of the most beloved figures in Catholic history even though he was never ordained into Catholic priesthood.

One of the most important challenges before Pope Francis will be to bring the faithful back to the fold. Particularly in the Western world, which has traditionally been the heart of Christendom, the Catholic Church has lost much of its following as an increasing number of people have been moving away from institutionalized religion. Much of this problem is of the Church's own making. For example, in recent years, the Roman Catholic Church has been associated with sex abuse scandals across the world and rampant corruption within the Vatican. In fact, Pope Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, had come under much criticism for his alleged efforts to overlook sexual assaults that priests had committed on children. Yet, it remains unclear if Pope Francis will take up the kind of zero tolerance policy against such crimes as many would want him to.

Demand of the Situation

The list of trials facing Catholicism is as long as it is daunting: plummeting church attendance and a massive shortage of new priests in the secular West; a widening theological chasm between the developed and developing world over what is socially acceptable; inter-religious animosity and distrust; the seemingly ever-recurring sex abuse scandals and a Vatican bureaucracy that all but the most naïve of commentators will admit is riven with corruption, incompetence and political infighting.

Similarly, it is also to be seen if Pope Francis will respond to the reformist within him — a hallmark of Jesuit priests — and introduce changes in the Catholic Church's policies toward key social issues such as contraception, abortion and gay rights. For example, Pope Francis had earlier said that contraceptives could be used to prevent the spread of AIDS, but has stayed away from endorsing the use of contraceptives in general, in keeping with official Church policy.

While many will look for signs of change from the new Pope, and there are already some departures from tradition, a look at his record shows that Cardinal Bergoglio, who belongs to the Jesuit order, is theologically conservative and supportive of the Vatican’s positions on major issues. He is against abortion, gay marriage and the ordination of women. However, the energy with which he has devoted himself to his flock as Archbishop of Buenos Aires has often been praised.

How Pope Francis will prioritize these problems remains to be seen but he will need to tackle them nonetheless. Pope Francis is both a continuation of the past and something very different. Theologically he is an orthodox conservative like his predecessor. No-one will be expecting him to take the Catholic Church into a brave new world where homosexuality is suddenly accepted and women are ordained.

China To Lead Technology Cooperation in Asia Pacific Region

The findings of science and technology in the 21st century is disseminated faster in a globalized world. However, competition arising from different countries and regions still exists. One good example is the setting up of research centers in Europe in 1960s in order to compete with the United States. Such centers in Europe consolidate resources and manpower from different countries to focus on research work together. One successful case is the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva (CERN).
Highest-Energy Particle Accelerator
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. The LHC was built with the intention of testing Higgs boson and the large family of new particles. It was built in collaboration with many scientists and engineers from various countries in the world. Their long term research had contributed to mankind.
Why are European countries willing to invest in millions of euros to conduct research on items which do not have commercial value? Apart from hoping to overtake the United States in their research, it also reflects that hereditary European culture of promoting science and technology. Science is one major component in human civilization and the Europe would not want to be left behind the United States.
Changing Economic Scenario
The United States and Europe are still leading Asia in scientific research. With the change of economic scenario in 21st century, China has become the second economic giant in the world while India is also rising. With Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore growing stronger by the day, one can't undermine the economic strength of Asia Pacific region. It is not impossible for it to overtake Europe and United States. The Asia Pacific should look into how to catch up in its research work in science in order to contribute to human civilizations.
First and foremost, whether Asia Pacific countries are able to contribute, to a large extend it will depend on the determination of political leaders. The setting up of CERN is the consensus reached among the political leaders in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and others. Such set up is impossible without the support of politicians. Chinese leaders are also supportive of scientific research and they are also aware of its significance. When Mao Zedong met up with Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao, he showed keen interest in science. Mao was discussing the structure of elementary particle with Yang. In a thick Hunan accent, he told Yang that in China, ancient philosophers also tried to explain the structure of substance. Mao also met with Nobel prize winner Abdus Salam and Japanese physics scientist Sakata Shoichi. In his antirightist movement, Zhou Enlai protected scientist first. He also had a name list of scientists to be protected. Many are experts of atomic, missiles and satellites. In 1979, when Li proposed setting up a high energy accelerator, Deng Xiaoping immediately agreed with the proposal. Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao also realize the importance of science. One can say that several generations of Chinese leaders support science.
More than 30 years after the reform and opening up policy, China has entered a phase where its economy is vibrant. Apart from upgrading its standard in science, technology and education level, it should also be contributing to science in the world. By becoming the leader of science and technology in Asia Pacific region, it should be assisting third world developing countries to speed up their leaps in science and education.
At this moment it is still premature for China or India to set a center like CERN. But China or India should take the cue from Prof Abdus Salam's experience and method to set up International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) 40 years ago. The main aim of the center is to assist scientists in third world countries for them to have a chance to interact with scientists from first world countries. They can also conduct research in the centre for several months to a year. Salam's center receive support from the Italian Government, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and UNESCO. It is pragmatic to set up similar research center in China.
Assisting Mankind to Progress
Scientists in developing countries lack funds and research facilities. To groom them one would have to start from areas in mathematics, theoretical physics, theoretical chemistry, theoretical biology and computer science to be effective.
For the past 40 over years, Salam's center groomed many world class scientists. It has also mobilized the science development in Asia, Africa and Latin America. China, India and other countries should also tell the world that they too, are concerned with assisting mankind to progress further to consolidate Asia Pacific for joint development and not only interested in domestic economy or benefits of technology.

Thai Problems Solving Must Be Based on Democratic Means

Recently, the Newsweek published an interesting article entitled How Democracy Dies by Joshua Kurlantzick, an expert on Southeast Asia affairs of the Council of Foreign Relations. The article talked about political phenomena worldwide, saying the situation for democracy was worrying.

Reason for Regression
The article analyzed that democracy in several country had regressed and this happened in Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Russia and Asia. The main reason for the regression was the middle class people who used to fight for freedom and democracy by toppling dictatorial regimes. The article said the middle class people were seeing that it was hard to create true democracy so they became disappointed in the system.

The main reason that prompted the middle class people to feel so was the fact that leaders of several new democratic countries regarded elections as only a way to power. And after they won an election, they abused the administrative power and practiced nepotism. Their interpretation of democracy that way was distortion of democracy, and thus causing the public to lose faith in the democratic system.

Kurlantzick also analyzed that the economic crisis also affected democracy in certain countries because the middle class regarded that democracy and freedom came with the adoption of globalization and capitalism. After their income dropped because of the economic crisis, they blamed the democracy for the economic crisis.

Implementing Policies
The article cited examples from several countries, including the Philippines, Venezuela, Russia and Cambodia. Kurlantzick highlighted the case of Thailand as a graphic example. In the example, Kurlantzick talked about former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, saying he got the power through democratic means and implemented policies as promised during the election campaigns and helping the poor. But Thaksin eventually abused the authority. Kurlantzick also talked about the summary killings of drug suspects during Thaksin's war on drug and the disappearance of lawyer Somchai Nilaphaichit.

This is the view of a westerner who still remembers the administrative style of Thaksin. Kurlantzick also talked about the phenomenon of the middle class people in Bangkok becoming disappointed and calling for the use of special power and a coup instead of using democratic means to bring about changes by supporting the opposition or by pushing for changes via newspapers.

Kurlantzick recounted that the middle class reasoned that the coup needed to be staged to preserve democracy. And eventually, the middle class people got what they wanted - they could topple the Thaksin regime and destroy democracy at the same time.

Kurlantzick did not conclude who was right or wrong. He simply presented an analysis in a view of a foreigner. But he added that after the middle class caused the democracy to regress by a coup and other undemocratic means, the lower class people became dissatisfied, leading to protests. Kurlantzick said this did not happen only in Thailand but also in Bolivia and the Philippines.

His last observation in the article was that kind of fight destroyed system and mechanisms of the country administration as well as the people's rights and freedom. He said it would take a long time to rebuild these democratic elements and there is no guarantee that the rebuilding would be successful.

Solving National Crisis
So, I am sharing this article so that Thai people would know how other people are viewing our situation. Sometimes, all Thais are like being caught in the middle of a bout in which fighters are fiercely fighting with no indication that they would stop. When we see how our "audience" analyze and think about our situation, we may be able to see it through and find a way-out for solving our national crisis.

The principle that we need to adhere to and need to have a common stand is that democracy is the best system for providing equal political and economic chances to the people and for guaranteeing the rights and freedom of the people. All problem solving efforts must be based on democracy. What happened in the past should be regarded as a painful lesson and we should never choose a coup as a way-out again.

Check-and-Balance Mechanisms
Most of all, there must be mechanisms for sharing power so that all sides and all classes in the society will take part in the ruling with the feelings that they are all owners of the country. All interests must be equally distributed instead of being concentrated to only a group of people no matter whether they are old or neo fenders. And when someone has money and power, that person must use the power with justice instead of abusing it to benefit himself and associates. To achieve this, the check-and-balance mechanisms of the public and private sectors must be strengthened as soon as possible.

We are all humans no matter whether we are elites or ordinary people. We need to respect each other because if we fail to see each other's face and respect each other, we will end up fighting against each other.

Japan Seeks UN Security Council Permanent Membership

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) -- the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia -- have one thing in common, i.e., all of them are nuclear-capable countries. In this way, it would not be wrong to liken the United Nations to a nuclear club.
No doubt, many disagreements are visible in the thinking of the members of this club because of their regional interests. Because of privilege of veto, mutual differences emerge on a number of issues. And as every member country has a button of the destruction of the world, the possibility of any clash as a result of disagreement over any issue is making this world an insecure place.

Lingering Problems of World
It is on the record that the right to veto has always increased the lingering problems of the world. Although the UNSC is an organization that should take decisions on most of the issues keeping in view international interests, the decisions taken on the basis of regional affairs, political conflicts, and interests of big powers have adversely affected the credibility of this forum.
The vetoes of United States and Russia on the Kashmir and Palestine issues in southwestern Asia are examples toward this end. Because of these decisions, the Kashmiri people have been deprived of their right to self-determination and Palestinians are the victims of the Israeli aggression even in their own country.
It is surprising that the permanent members of the UNSC do not seem to be willing with regard to accommodating any other country in their group. It would not be surprising if they were just indifferent to a backward country of the Third World on this issue, but a country like Japan is remonstrant of being ignored by these countries (five permanent UNSC members) in spite of his economic power.
Japan, which spends more than the fund, jointly allocated by Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China for the United Nations, is not considered eligible for the permanent seat of the United Nations, although Japan's permanent membership as a nonatomic, democratic country can boost the credibility of the Security Council's image in Asia and throughout the entire world.

Independent Thinking
Japan expressed its desire to join of the United Nations in 1952. However, it was formally given the UN membership in 1956, and ever since it has been seeking the permanent membership of the Security Council on permanent basis. Behind this desire is the Japan leadership thinking that they developed after the Second World War in order to remove the impression about the country with regard to the Second World War and Pacific War; the country's leadership wants to have an independent thinking about various issues of the world and to cooperate and participate in the resolution of the prevailing issues as a peace-loving country.
This natural desire of Japan is not inappropriate because it has a more moderate attitude when compared to other candidates for the Security Council permanent seat, including Germany, Brazil, and India.
In the past, Russia and China had been opposing Japan's permanent membership; it is due to the sour diplomatic relations between China and Japan in the past and the issue of Russian occupation of certain Japanese islands.
To this end, Japan has already presented a good formula, which calls for inclusion of two new members each from Asia and Africa, and one member each from Latin America and Europe in the Security Council.
In addition, Japan has also offered the option in the formula that the countries, nominated by the General Assembly by two-thirds votes, will be able to become permanent members of the Security Council.

Tangible Measures
In this respect, the double standard of the United States are also meaningful because it is Japan's ally on one hand and has set up military bases in Japan, while on the other, the United States avoids taking tangible measures and just gives a lip service to the issue of Japan's permanent membership issue. This is a deplorable aspect of the US policy.
The recent change in Japan's foreign policy with reference to the United States may convince the latter on some breakthrough to do something practical in this regard. Set aside political and diplomatic aspects, a moderate country like Japan -- which is the second largest donor of the United Nations voluntary operations throughout the world -- deserves to be given a permanent seat in the Security Council even on moral grounds.

The United States: World's Biggest Polluter

The global conference on environment was recently held in Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark. The conference discussed the issue of reducing the release of carbon dioxide and other such toxic gases that destroy the global environment. Today the world is confronting the major issue of environment. Some of the countries of the world have been blamed that they are producing a lot of material releasing carbon dioxide for their industrial development that is affecting the green house gases. This is causing an increase in global temperature. More than 1,500 envoys of the 192 countries participated in this conference. The importance of this issue could be judged from the fact that more than 100 head of states attended this conference. Similarly, more than 100,000 protesters were protesting against these hypocritical policies of the developed countries on streets. However, an important factor was not mentioned over there in the conference. How is it possible that the element responsible for spreading the environmental pollution could not be mentioned in the conference? This agency is playing havoc with the global environment by producing most of the carbon dioxide and other such toxic gases. This agency is US Defense Ministry or Pentagon. Pentagon is a geometrical shape having five sides. To the readers' interest, I must tell that as the US Defense Ministry building is of Pentagon shape, therefore, this building and the US Defense Ministry is called Pentagon.

Largest Oil Consumer
Pentagon is the world's largest oil consumer, its relevant materials and energy user in the world. Despite this fact, it is quite strange that the role of this agency has been shelved under the carpet in almost all global conferences on environment. The release of green house gases during war activities of Pentagon in Iraq and Afghanistan, its secret actions in Pakistan, the equipment used on its more than 1,000 bases spread all over the world, its 6,000 installations in the US, all NATO's operations, its huge aircraft carriers, jet fighters, tests and sales of weapons, sale of weapons and training of troops have never been attributed to the US Government. It has been proved through bulletin of 17 February 2007 that Pentagon is the largest oil consumer in the world. This bulletin contains the details of the jet fighters, ships, vehicles, and installations of Pentagon where oil is used. At that time, the US Navy had around 285 war and supporting ships and 4,000 jet fighters. The US military had approximately 28,000 armored vehicles and approximately 140,000 HMWV. More than 4,000 choppers, several hundreds of other planes, a fleet of 187,497 vehicles, nuclear submarines, huge ships, and aircraft carriers where jet fighters land and take off and they release radio active material in the atmosphere all the time. Moreover, thousands of other army vehicles also use oil. According to the CIA World Fact Book of 2006, there are 210 countries in the world and there are only 35 countries are using more oil than Pentagon. According to an officially released data, the US military uses approximately 321,000 barrels oil in a day and the quantity of that oil has not been counted, which is used by the Army-affiliated contractors or private agencies working on lease. The preparation of deadly weapons, bombs, grenades and missiles and unlimited energy used during their tests and other resources are besides this huge consumption. According to the report of Steve Kretzmann, director of the Oil Change International, approximately141 (MMTCO2e) was released in the air during Iraq war from March 2003 to December 2007.

Major Difficulties
Approximately 60 percent of the total gases released by all countries is released in areas where war is underway. Release of toxic gases is prohibited in war-torn areas under the US law. Therefore, scientists have to face several difficulties, while gathering this data. Bryan Farrell is considered an expert environmentalist and he has written in his book The Green Zone-The Environmental Cost of Militarism that "the great attacks on the environment of the each is launched by an agency, which is the US military". It is strange that the activities of the US Defense Ministry Pentagon have got exception in the global environmental conferences. It is also really a strange tale.
The global conference on environment held in Japanese city of Kyoto in 1997. The US Government imposed this condition, while signing the agreement that the US military action in the world, participation of the US military in UN missions, and US-NATO joint military actions would not be discussed in the global environmental conferences. Under the force of circumstances, the participants of the conference accepted this condition, so that the United State could sign this agreement. However, the United States adopted its deceptive posture, and when the entire world acknowledged its condition, it refused to sign the agreement. In this way, the United States deceptively removed its military actions from the agenda of any global conference in the world. This great concession has provided freehand to the United States in that it could play havoc with the environment of the world through its military action as much as it desires.

Impact of Toxic Gases and Materials
In addition to carbon dioxide, the US military is adding up several other toxic gases and materials in the soil and water. The US military is also using weapons that have been manufactured with less powerful uranium. These weapons were used on wholesale basis in the Middle East, Balkan, and some areas of the Central Asia. That spread thousands of pounds used material and radioactive particles in the areas. The US Government is also selling explosive mines and cluster bombs on wholesale basis. These bombs causing damages to farmers and common citizens after they are sprayed in the fields in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Thousands of people have been maimed due to this. Israel showered more than 100,000 US supplied cluster bombs on Lebanon in 2006.
Toxic and chemical material was spread on a vast area in Vietnam because of the US invasion. Because of that invasion, still the level of dioxin toxic gas is 300-400 above dangerous level. This is causing birth-disabilities to the newborn babies and diseases like cancer. The Iraqi land was the most fertile land in the Middle East since 5,000 years.

Environmental Pollution
However, the twice US invasion has devastated its fertility. Iraq used to supply food to other countries and now it imports more than 80 percent from aboard. We have not mentioned the nuclear bombs dropped by the United States on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. No agreement can decrease the environmental pollution, in which the US military actions are not included. The world should include the US military actions in its agenda.