In His Second Year, Pope Faces Expectations That Change Is Coming
By JIM YARDLEY
MARCH 12, 2014
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis marks the first anniversary of his papacy on Thursday having become so globally celebrated that he recently felt compelled to deflate his own “superman” aura. He is a star of magazine covers and social media, praised for his welcoming, nonjudgmental persona, his embrace of the poor and his decisiveness in moving to reform an ossified Vatican bureaucracy.
Year 2, however, is likely to prove more challenging, if partly because of Francis’s own success. He has raised expectations that he can bring major change to the Roman Catholic Church — even as opinions differ on what changes are needed, and which ones Francis actually supports.
He has become one of the most recognized and popular figures in the world yet his public comments are often deliberately ambiguous, as he is careful not to get pinned down on ideologically charged issues.
“What he is really trying to do is change the culture of the church,” said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior analyst for The National Catholic Reporter. “To reform an institution like the Catholic Church, you don’t just move boxes around in an organizational chart.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/world/europe/challenges-ahead-for-pope-francis-as-he-enters-second-year.html