Where will Pope Francis lead the church?

Six months from now Catholics are likely to have lined up on one side or another of the new pope. At this point it is not possible to know whether he will become the darling of the liberals, reaffirm the greatest hopes of the traditionalists, or more likely fall somewhere in between.

But what is amazing after the first few weeks of the Francis papacy is that right now, all Catholics of every stripe can find great inspiration from his first actions. Only the most strident Catholics of any stripe could fail to be impressed with Francis’ humility, simplicity and sincerity.