The bird of St. Francis

There is another way of explaining the presence of that bird on the smokestack of the Sistine Chapel as the world awaited last week the outcome of the vote by 115 cardinal electors to select a new pope.

To those who do not know what I am talking about, allow me to backtrack a bit. On this space last Friday, I wrote that the bird -- news anchors of major tv networks identified it as a seagull -- that remained perched on the smokestack for hours may have been the Holy Spirit. I said so because in Roman Catholic teaching, the Holy Spirit is invariably personified as a bird, often a dove, although for purposes of my understanding of that smokestack scene, a seagull does not make much difference.

The bird, seagull or otherwise, caught the attention of everyone watching tv at the time -- it was probably too far away to be discerned by people down in St. Peter's Square -- because it never flew away until the smokestack billowed white smoke to announce a new pope.

One does not have to be an ornithologist to know that it is very uncanny for a bird of whatever feather to remain perched on one place for so long. But that bird stayed where it was from the entire time it took between the two afternoon ballotings on Wednesday.

I said at the time that the bird could have been the Holy Spirit because given the length of time it took the cardinals to choose a new pope, I felt they all needed the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order for them to make the right choice.

I am not so sure anymore. Not that I no longer want to believe the bird personified the Holy Spirit. It is just that in the intervening time, certain things have come to light that I did not see at the outset.

I am now of the view that if the bird did not represent the Holy Spirit, then it must have represented someone else, someone who turned out to be just as intricately involved in the proceedings as would have the Holy Spirit.

I refer to St. Francis of Assisi. The new pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, took the name of the beloved saint as his papal name. St. Francis, who renounced a life of comfort in favor of poverty, was known to be a great lover of God's little creatures.

Having left the warmth of home to dwell in the company of animals, St. Francis was known to communicate with them. He was able to talk to birds, for instance. So renown was he as a lover of animals that on his feast day, pet lovers bring their animals to church to be blessed.

The only reason I dwelt on the Holy Spirit in my previous article and never considered St. Francis was because at the time, nobody knew that the pope-to-be would be taking on the name of the saint.

It was only when he appeared on the balcony that everyone knew the pope had taken on the name of Francis. This was a good hour or more after white smoke billowing from the smokestack eventually drove the bird away, its reason for perching there already a foregone conclusion.

Only when the name of St. Francis became the latest buzz word that it occurred to me that, my God, if the bird was not the Holy Spirit, then it must have been one of St. Francis's winged friends, waiting, as the spirit of the saint mingled with the cardinals.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it was St. Francis, that he was present during the proceedings, and that his presence had something to do with that bird. Right now, as I think about it, I can feel goosebumps on my arms, and hair standing on my nape.