We have a pope?

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the next pope of the Catholic Church as of today.  The name he is taking is Pope Francis, for Saint Francis of Assisi.

I am not catholic myself, and have many misgivings over certain teachings of the church in particular, but I have enjoyed following the conclave and resulting papal selection.  Pope Francis seems like a humble man, based on the bare minimum I know about him.  I read a Wikipedia biography of him, and I saw him speak.  Of course, he did not speak in English, so I had to read a translation later.  But the soft manner of his speaking, and the mere polite wave he gave to his audience, were things I found endearing about this man I do not know and feel exercises no authority over me.  On first impression it feels like the cardinals picked a good man to be pope, but of course, time will reveal all.

Because of this recent news I have been thinking more and more about the assertion that Matthew 16 is biblical evidence for the necessity of a papal office.

Matthew 16:18-19
"I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."

After all these years I do not find it any more compelling than I did previously, but I will admit that I can understand it from a Catholic perspective more readily.  After all, though I am not Catholic, I believe in that the Church does hold authority.  I believe that overseers and deacons make up the body of Church offices for the guiding and help of other members of a particular congregation.  So while I used to deny the basis of papal authority without a second thought with a snide "pfft, God is the head of the Church NOT MAN DUH," I now realize in my growth that earthly authority was certainly planned for by the Lord God Himself.  After all, the authority of the Lord's Church is quite prevalent in the New Testament.

But it always comes back to the same question.  Is this what the Lord intended for His Church?  I don't question whether or not God could establish an environment in which we are guided by a lone man acting as bishop over the entirety of the earthly members (with Christ as the head over all).  I don't question the possibility of a man being gifted with infallibility at certain times as guided by the Holy Spirit.  I don't doubt that God could have designed the Church this way if He wanted because he's God.

The question is whether God did, not whether he could.

Yet it is well and good that this man, humble as he seems, is taking the role of someone who oversees a great many people.  Far be it from me to wish any crisis or scandal on the Catholic Church.  A humble man can inspire a humble people and that is always a good thing.