The Catholic Church on Wednesday announced Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina as its new pope.
Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School
Watch a video of Hauerwas' remarks.
Hauerwas, who holds a joint appointment in the Duke Law School, was named "America's Best Theologian" by TIME magazine in 2001. His book, "A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic," was selected as one of the 100 most important books on religion of the 20th century.
Quote: "It's remarkable that they've chosen a Jesuit. That's even more remarkable than choosing a non-European.
"That he's a Jesuit says so much about his commitment to the poor, and that he's taken the name of Francis -- in recollection of Saint Francis of Assisi -- clearly gestures that the Roman Catholic Church not only serves the poor, the Roman Catholic Church is the church of the poor.
"My sense is that many of the agendas associated with American Catholicism will not exactly be his agendas."