Panel on Pope Francis’ First Year

This post first appeared on In Our Company on March 20, 2014

(L.-r.) R.R. Reno, an editor of First Things magazine, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM, Archbishop of Boston, Mollie Wilson O’Reilly, associate editor of Commonweal magazine and Fr. Matt Malone, SJ, the editor in chief of America magazine.

On Wednesday March 19, the American Bible Society celebrated Pope Francis’ first year in office with a forum of distinguished speakers. The event began with a presentation by the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM. “We have a pope who seems to have melded the categories of Jesuit and Franciscan into one,” he stated. “But I believe that Pope Francis is the quintessential Ignatian Jesuit and that this is the key to understanding him.”

Additionally, there was a panel of Christian journalists on hand to help analyze this past year. They consisted of R.R. Reno, an editor of First Things magazine, Mollie Wilson O’Reilly, associate editor of Commonweal magazine and Fr. Matt Malone, SJ, the editor in chief of America magazine.

Click the player below to listen to the Cardinal answer a question from Fr. Matt Malone, SJ, about the pope’s popularity: