Catholics around the world are lauding newly elected Pope Francis of Argentina as a beacon of change for the 2000-year-old religion. Francis' selection as the first Latin American Pope is "historic" and shows that the Catholic church is truly global said Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago.
In particular, Cardinal George said, Pope Francis will be very important for the Latino community in the United States, which is the biggest demographic group for the Catholic church.
"[Pope Francis] comes from the culture, with the language, and that will be a source of great encouragement, I'm sure, for all of us."
The new Pope will have to deal with the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Church something which, as Cardinal George admits, will be difficult to move past. "None of us can [close that chapter] as long as there are victims."
Former head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' review board of the sex scandals, Frank Keating, said on our roundtable that the scandals were an "agonizing, embarrassing, and humiliating moment for the church."
Meanwhile in Washington, Conservatives from across the country met this weekend with competing visions for the direction of the party laid out by popular GOP Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) joined our roundtable discussion and argued that the future GOP needs to be "somewhere in between" the two Senators.
"There's the principles that are timeless, combined with the fact the we need to be more relevant as conservatives, as Republicans," he argued.
You can watch the entire program on our website including a debate over the budget and major legislative issues like guns and energy with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Plus, don't miss our PRESS Pass conversation with Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren with a preview of the President's trip to Israel this week.
We'll be back next week. If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press.
