Baby Steps towards a “much needed reform” of the Roman Catholic Church.

Rome was built in approximately five hundred years of extreme labour, yet it only took six days and seven nights for this once great city to be completely engulfed in the Nero-induced flames to return to the ashes. The same concept can be applied to the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church, and now it is left to its new Pope to commence the reconstruction of his Church.

At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of spectators cheered as a cloud of white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City – the traditional indication that the new Pope had been confirmed.

No more than an hour later, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aged 76, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was identified to the public as the new spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Unveiling himself on the balcony of the Vatican to the expansive crowds, Cardinal Jorge Mario presented himself as Pope Francis, after the St. Francis of Assisi, a humble friar and preacher who lived in poverty to serve his God, similar to that of Pope Francis’s previous life style.

Pope Francis has brought new excitement to the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, with a new heir of reform about him.

BBC reporter David Willey said that the 76 year old has already been swift to stamp his new style on the papacy.

Aside from being the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to become pope, he has also brought with him a new persona or ‘style’ – He remains Orthodox on sexual matters, however is strong on social justice.

According to Ms. Amborgetti stated “He is absolutely capable of undertaking the necessary renovations without any leaps into the unknown.”

“He would be a balancing force. He shares the view that the Church should have a missionary role that gets out to meet people... A church that does not so much regulate faith as promote and facilitate it.”

The Roman Catholic Church has suffered a severe and ironic lack of faith throughout recent years. Damage through the clerical sex scandal, internal divisions and ever reducing numbers of believers in parts of the world where Christianity was once prominent, has brought the Church into ‘a state turmoil’.

Pope Francis is seen as the redeeming force for the Church and its previous detrimental mistakes.

The extremely poor handling of the clerical sex scandal by previous popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II, where 200 cases of sexual abuse by members of the clergy were brought to media attention, has been noted as the Church’s most controversial and biggest downfall.

It is not possible to trust a pope who would attempt to cover up or ignore crimes of such unforgivable evil, an evil so contradictory of what the Church is meant to represent, for the safe keeping of the reputation of the Church.

One of the most prominent cases, the case of CardinalBernard Law, Archbishop of Boston and Archpriest of St. Mary’s basilica, has been labelled as a ‘paedophile-enabler’ through his attempts to destroy evidence of such disgraceful activities; the failure to protect children from known child molesters.

Now the mere mention of the Church evokes the memories of the vile misconduct of its previous crimes, which are heightened by the attempt to cover up its wrong doings.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has also been tied in with the sex scandal, when in 2012 his secretary was imprisoned for “stealing documents” which are said to have implied his complicity in the cover up of the paedophile priest sex scandal.

It has been said that the Church is in need of a hero unlike those Benedict’s or John Paul’s, who merely created this illusion of righteousness, the Church needs a leader who is less politically inclined and more focused on justice and morality.

Many have rejoiced in the ‘new style’ of Pope Francis, and see him as a reformist to not only rebuild the reputation of the Church, through higher transparency, but to adapt the religion better to today’s modern social climate.

Although Bergoglio is not seen as an extreme reformist, as he maintains his orthodox beliefs towards sexual activities. However he is the first out of 266 popes of his kind; he is providing the foundations for reformation. This may indeed be a slow process, and may not become evident in the near future, but it is important to remember that Rome was not built in a day.