We’re continuing to round up clips of Acton involvement in the media coverage of the recent papal conclave and the election of Pope Francis, and today we present two clips from across the pond that our American readers likely haven’t seen yet. First up, Istituto Acton’s Kishore Jayabalan joins Father Thomas Reese, former editor of America magazine and current fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington, DC, to discuss the conclave process as it progressed; the interview took place prior to the election of Pope Francis on March 13th.

Read more on Video: Acton on the BBC…

We continue to round up media appearances from the days surrounding the election of Pope Francis in Vatican City on March 13. This particular clip features Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico and Instituto Acton Operations Manager Michael Severance, who discuss the new Pope’s style, as well as some of the challenges and opportunities he faces as he assumes his role as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Read more on Video: Sirico and Severance on Pope Francis…

Those who thought Pope Francis was going to be a “a jolly, badly-dressed, Gaia-worshipping baby-boomer from 1972 received a severe jolt of reality today”, says Sam Gregg, Acton’s Director of Research. In today’s National Review Online, Gregg is quick to clear up any thoughts of the new pope being a relativist or pop culture phenom. While Pope Francis has made it clear from the very beginning of his pontificate that he wishes to draw attention to the poor, he’s not simply concerned with money matters:

Read more on Samuel Gregg: Pope Francis and the Renaissance of Natural Law…

Something new and something a bit older today for our PowerBlog readers. First of all, Rev. Robert A. Sirico, President of the Acton Institute, joined host Mary Jones of The Mary Jones Show in Connecticut to discuss the Inaugural Mass of Pope Francis as well as how he is likely to handle some of the issues he will confront as he takes the helm at the Vatican.

Read more on Audio/Video: Rev. Robert A. Sirico on Pope Francis…

On the popular Italian news portal Ilsussidiario.net, Rev. Robert A. Sirico is interviewed about the social and political views of Pope Francis. To a question about Francis’ rejection of liberation theology, even as many of his fellow Jesuits embraced it, the Acton Institute president and co-founder replied that “it was a very brave thing that Pope Francis did at that time in Argentina, and all the more difficult because he had to confront his brother Jesuits who were attempting to politicize the Gospel and service to the poor.”

Read more on Rev. Sirico: Option for the Poor Not Neccessarily an Option for the State…

Metropolitan Siluan (Muci) of Buenos Aires, an Orthodox Christian hierarch, was the representative of the Patriarchate of Antioch at the inaugural mass for Pope Francis this week. Notes on Arab Orthodoxy has a personal reflection on the new pope from Met. Siluan (and links to the Spanish-language originals). The Orthodox bishop offers insights about the qualities of this “very easygoing” new pope from informal meetings and dinners he took part in. Met. Siluan:

Read more on Orthodox Bishop: What Kind of Man is Pope Francis?…

Alejandro Chafuen, President of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is hoping that newly-elected Pope Francis will be able to sort out the misunderstandings of what “social justice” means in the Church today. In today’s Forbes, Chafuen suggests that “social justice” has too often meant (especially in places like the pope’s home country of Argentina) taking from the rich and giving to the poor.

Chafuen observes that the Jesuit order, to which Pope Francis belongs, has a long intellectual history when it comes to describing what social justice should be. Read more on Pope Francis: A Different Type of Social Justice?…

Michael Severance, operations manager of the Istituto Acton in Rome, recently wrote an article for the World Catholic Report explaining why Pope Francis was a historic choice and examining  what we can expect from his papacy.

He points out that “this past week proved a historic week of firsts:”

We now have the first Jesuit pope. And the first pope named Francis. He is the first non-European pope since Gregory III, an eighth-century Syrian. And we now have the very first pope from the Americas.

We have also witnessed a pope who is shunning what some critics perceive as Vatican tinsel and niceties during these economic hard times.

Francis has refused to ride in the pope’s private car (preferring the shuttle bus) or to wear red shoes and a fur-lined cape, or mozzetta, opting for ordinary black shoes and a white cassock.

This is the first time in a very long while that we have listened to a pope who readily quips in public and frequently includes off-script interjections to prepared remarks—at his first Mass with his brother cardinals, then a second time during his first press conference with journalists on Saturday, then a third time during his Sunday sermon at the Vatican parish of St. Anne, and again only a few hours later at his noontime Angelus, when he preached from his apartment above St. Peter’s Square. Not even John Paul II was at such ease with humor and his own words so early on in his pontificate.

Since Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was somewhat unknown before he was elected Pope, Severance has compiled a brief profile of Pope Francis, focusing the pope as a pastor, thinker, and advocate for the poor. Read more on What We Can Expect from Pope Francis…

The bureaucracy of the Roman Curia is nothing new. When Pope John XXIII was asked how many people worked at the Vatican, he replied, “About half.” A great chuckle, but an unfortunate truth.

The National Post’s Scott Barber shares the mess that Pope Francis is going to have to deal with:

A poisonous combination of corruption, incompetence and tradition could stifle Pope Francis’ ability to rid the Catholic Church of scandal, Vatican analysts say.

“This whole mess needs to be excavated like the site of a toxic contamination,” said Michael D’Antonio, author of Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime and the Era of Catholic Scandal.

Read more on Can Pope Francis Deal With Toxic Contamination?…

Pope Francis has already made it clear that he has a heart and mind for the poor. We’ve seen images of him washing the feet of AIDS patients, stopping traffic to bless a severely handicapped man in St. Peter’s Square, and reminding us from the first moments of his papacy to remember the poor.

Beyond that, there is a certain population of the poor that Francis wants us to remember: those caught in human trafficking and slavery. The White House conservatively estimates that 20 million men, women and children are trafficked globally. According to Charled Reid, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Pope Francis’ home is an epicenter for slavery: Read more on A Meat Grinder Which Destroys Lives: Pope Francis on Slavery…