Oklahoma Catholics Celebrate Selection of New Pope

By Eileen Dugan
The Sooner Catholic

OKLAHOMA CITY — Just before the beginning of noon Mass, Archbishop Eusebius Beltran shared with the priests, parishioners, and visitors gathered at Saint Joseph Old Cathedral in Oklahoma City the news that a new pope had been elected. The congregation, in attendance for the Memorial Mass on the Tenth Anniversary of the Oklahoma Bombing, erupted in applause.

        By noon, Oklahoma time, the bells in Saint Peter’s were ringing, and whiffs of white smoke announced that Pope Benedict XVI had been chosen. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the successor to Pope John Paul II!

        Many in the archdiocese were amazed that the selection of the new pope had happened so quickly.

        “I was surprised,” Roxanne Taylor, the RE Director at Saint Joseph Church in Ada, said. “I didn’t think we would have a pope so soon. Mine were mixed reactions, a little bit. I was wondering if the new pope would be from the Third World. I was hoping we might reach out to embrace that part of the world.

“But I’m hopeful of the direction the new pope will lead the Church. I hope that he will continue to build on to what John Paul II has done and will continue to meet with the youth. The next World Youth Day is in Germany, the new pope’s home country. I hope Pope Benedict XVI will continue youth gatherings.”

Marcella Osborne, secretary at Prince of Peace Church, Altus, found the process of electing the pope interesting. “I have never been through this process before,” she said. “I am really excited at the media, as a recent person coming back to the Church.

“I was on the Internet. Watching it, I learned about the election of the new pope. I think he’ll be good. I like that he is conservative.

“I assist in teaching religious education and am anxious to share this news with our eighth graders. This is history in the making!”

“I’m thrilled it’s Cardinal Ratzinger,” Maria Villines, secretary at the Church of Saint Mary in Ponca City, said. “We were surprised it happened so soon. We tolled the bells twice today: this morning at 9:01a.m. for the bombing victims and then, again, at 11:50 a.m. for the new pope. It’s been quite a day.”

Father Kirk Larkin, also from the Church of Saint Mary, was surprised he wasn’t surprised. “John Paul II was the only pope I’ve known. Everyone said it would be Cardinal Ratzinger. Usually, the one they say will be pope walks out a cardinal,” he said.

“Most of the cardinals approved of John Paul II’s pontificate. They wanted to continue what John Paul II had initiated. So Cardinal Ratzinger was a logical choice.

They said it would be a transitional pope, and that’s exactly what we got. Cardinal Ratzinger worked closely with John Paul II.

“I think it is unfair to say he is a hardheaded conservative. I was impressed with what he said from the balcony. He called himself ‘a simple, humble worker’. He said, ‘I am comforted by the fact that the Lord knows how to work and act even with insufficient instruments. And above all else, I entrust myself to your prayers.’”

Marilyn Neubauer, the RE Director, Saint Mary Church, Ardmore, heard the news on NPR Radio. “I was in my car and had stopped to get some gas. I had the radio on and heard that a new pope had been selected. You could hear the bells ringing in the background. I just got goose bumps. I was surprised it had happened so fast.

“When they said it was Cardinal Ratzinger, I was surprised that we had a pope who was so old. But it didn’t surprise me we had someone so close to John Paul II.

 “I finished putting gas in my car and ran into Love’s to pay the bill. I don’t know if there were any Catholics in there, but I said to everyone inside, ‘We have a new pope!’”