I got to share a really cool moment with my host family on Wednesday.
We were eating lunch and all of a sudden the church bells began to toll. Immediately, my host family knew that this meant there was a new Pope. We all ran into the bedroom with the tv and stood around for the next 30 minutes or so, waiting to hear the announcement! There was a lot of excitement. (Also, my host family was also extremely nervous that the next Pope would be black, and they were certain this would mean the end of the world. I'll expand upon race in Guatemala during a later post, when I'm a little less angry about it and I know how to do it correctly.)
When the Cardinals announced that the next Pope was from Argentina, the first Pope from Latin America, there was a palpable sense of pride in the room. When he began to speak in Spanish, everyone stepped towards the tv, trying to be just a little bit closer to this new, historical Pope. There are a lot of devout Catholics in Guatemala and throughout Latin America. This Pope represents the Church's embrace of their devotion and has filled my host family with happiness. It has been two days and they're still talking about it constantly.
As a feminist and a volunteer for a marriage equality PAC, I have my bones to pick with the Catholic Church. However, in this moment, I was extremely grateful for my Catholic religion because I was able to share in this celebration and to cross a language and cultural divide simply by saying, "I am Catholic, too." I was happy to celebrate this historical Pope in Latin America.
I bought a newspaper the next day as a memento of the historical moment and of my more personal moment with my host family.
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