March 13, 2013
- CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In response to the election today of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new pope, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said he is “encouraged that Pope Francis I has worked with Lutherans in Argentina.” Meeting with Lutheran church leaders in Madagascar, Hanson said that “as we approach the commemoration of the 500th (observance) of the Lutheran Reformation, we share a deep commitment ...