Editor’s note: The historic interview with Pope Francis (Am. 9/30) has generated a great deal of dialogue in the church and in society at large. We asked several writers to offer their reactions to the pope’s words. Selections from these responses are printed below. The full versions of

From the moment he took the right name (I could not resist, dear Jesuits!), we knew something was different and even good. But little could we have imagined! Maybe we did have to go to “the ends of the earth,” as he himself said, to find such an extraordinary and compelling man as Jorge

I have met many LAY Christians who put professional religious to shame by their dedication, their service and their heartfelt love of God. I have encountered many lifestyles that seem much more based on Gospel values than formalized vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Sometimes religious life f