Hope in the Pope

Just recently I was musing with a fellow journalist about all the media attention that Pope Francis' visit to Brazil is getting. Suddenly it occurred to me – it's about hope.

Reasons abound for the nation's excitement in a preliminary evaluation of the situation – Brazil holds the world's largest amount of Catholics, the international visit is Francis' first in his pontifical rule, and this is the first Latin American holder of Saint Peter's key coming back home to the region.

But looking at the situation on a deeper level, one can make a number of parallels between what both Brazil and the Catholic church are going through. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was ushered into the papacy, taking the helm of a church besieged by high-level corruption at the troubled Vatican Bank, not to mention sex scandals and pedophilia that have largely gone unaddressed worldwide.

The incoming pope has taken actions to endear the public, including renouncing many of the luxuries that normally come with the job of leading the world's 1.2bn Roman Catholics, and in pushing followers to focus more on the plight of the poor (one instance of this is his Brazil visit to one of Rio's infamous favelas). In his election speech to the cardinal electors for the papal conclave, he forwent the tradition of speaking in Latin and spoke in plain Italian to show that he meant business and ensure that nothing was misunderstood.

And he's taking it further. To address the scandals, the pope appointed a commission of inquiry that will report directly to him in order to increase transparency and implement anti-money laundering norms. He has also overhauled laws in Vatican City, listing sexual violence, prostitution and possession of child pornography as crimes that can be punished by up to 12 years in prison.

Returning to Brazil, June's mass protests demonstrated the people's significant discontent over what they see as a government out of touch with the needs of the people. And, primarily, the crowds were crying out over corruptionthat has gone on for so long that it is now engrained in the political process. It's no secret, for example, that high-ranking members of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration have been tried and found guilty of charges including corruption, money laundering and misuse of public funds.

In response to the protests, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff announced plans to improve health services, public transportation and education, and offered to call a referendum that could lead to political reforms. Not a bad start for a government that apparently was caught unaware of broiling social unease and had to scramble for answers, but Rousseff and her administration will continue to have to think outside the box and employ unorthodox measures in order to really address the protesters' concerns and keep the people relatively appeased.

May Pope Francis' austerity and insistence on changing the Catholic church's status quo serve as an inspiration for Brazil's Rousseff. That's what the throngs of crowds are clamoring for during this papal visit.