Como achar um papa no palheiro - The Wall Street Journal

Um artigo interessante, parte de um livro a ser publicado nos EUA.

Fifteen Days in Rome: How the Pope Was Picked

By STACY MEICHTRY and ALESSANDRA GALLONI

The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2013

The inside story: From the Red Room where Bergoglio's name was first dropped to a faithful night on Rome's Piazza Navona

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal's new e-book "Pope Francis: From the End of the Earth to Rome," available at PopeFrancisTheBook.com.

On Feb. 27, a mild, dewy morning, Alitalia Flight 681 landed at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome after 13 hours in the air. A balding man with gray-white wisps of thin hair stepped out of coach class. He wore thick-rimmed brown glasses, black orthopedic shoes and a dark overcoat. He had a slight limp, and his back was stiff from the long flight. His belly was a bit swollen, due to many decades of cortisone treatments to help him breathe after he had lost part of a lung as a young man. No one could see the silver pectoral cross he wore under his coat, though it was the symbol of his authority.

Back home in Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was a prominent figure, the highest-ranking Catholic prelate in his country and to many a beloved figure known especially for his work in the city's teeming slums. Here he was one of 115 cardinals converging on Vatican City for important business: the election of a new leader for the Catholic Church.
Two weeks earlier, Pope Benedict XVI had suddenly announced his resignation from office, becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to renounce a job traditionally held until death. In church teaching, the position had been handed down for two millennia, starting when Jesus said to St. Peter, "On this rock I will build my church."
Cardinal Bergoglio expected his trip to be brief. He was already carrying in his black leather briefcase the airplane ticket that would return him home in time for Holy Week, the most important week of the year for a Catholic prelate. His Easter Sunday homily was already written too, and in the hands of parishioners back home.

New WSJ E-Book

The Wall Street Journal's new e-book, "Pope Francis: From the End of the Earth to Rome," chronicles the unlikely ascension of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy. With original reporting by a team of journalists around the world, the Journal takes an in-depth look at the man charged with leading the Catholic Church in a time of challenges. Pre-order the book now at popefrancisthebook.com

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Para ler a íntegra da matéria "How the Pope Was Picked", ver este link:
http://on.wsj.com/10ZB7Sk

A version of this article appeared April 13, 2013, on page C1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Fifteen Days in Rome How the Pope as Picked.