3 | AD PERPETUAM MEMORIAM
3 AD PERPETUAM MEMORIAM “I am not choosing a man. I am interpreting a silence that stretches back two thousand years. The Spirit does not rumble with the soul; it whispers through history. In this man’s face, I must see not only virtue, but vision. Not only gentleness, but the fire of prophets. I have grown old. I no longer walk the marble halls as I once did, nor do I rise in the night as easily to pray. But I remember. Yes, God forgive me, I remember. God help me—God help us all to remember rightly what we are." He came to us not as a prince, but as a question. We expected a lion—he touched a tiger, and carried a lamb. We looked for a scholar in silk; instead, we received a man who smelled of the streets and looked like he had wept into his hands. We asked for someone saintly to favor the hopeless, but we found a man, also in humility, regularly asking the faithful to pray for him. We expected a preacher and found a profound listener. Jorge Mario Bergoglio. They sai...