0 two centuries, he began his papacy to bless him and pray promise. not only was that a change from the past, he also -- the way he lived. in argentina, he is a matthew xxv. >> you have these men of god who represent and believe they are these successors of one of the most -- i think one of the oldest human institutions, the roman catholic church. they believe they stand on the rock of peter but they embody a gospel that is about the first shall be last and -- but they are, in fact, the first among the princes of the church. >> jon, i want you to follow up on that point. but also there are a couple of moments, of course, and christ on ministry when he bathed the disciples and he said if you want to be first, you must be last. that's exactly what this pope did in 2001 "the new york times" reports when he went to buenos aires hospital and asked for water and then went around to aids patients and washed their feet. >> absolutely. that's what the celebration in two weeks is the commandment to love one another as i loved you. and i think the critical thing for the church now is can francis, who has taken this name of obedient, humble man who cares about the poor, who lived -- the saint who lived among the poor, who had been a rich guy, the original francis had kind of a wasteful youth according to legend and had augustinian moment of version. will this pope be able to embody and enact a gospel that is about reversal. >> carl bernstein, you've written a book about a pope and a lot of talk leading up to this vote yesterday that the catholic church needed a bit of a turning of the pam, a look to the next generation. by age this isn't the next generation. it's new and digit by geography. from what you know about this man and from what you've studied, does he represent a new face, a new turning of the page for the catholic church? >> i think it's real continuity and extremely savvy choice by the cardinals who knew exactly what they wanted and probably what they are getting. remember, john paul, ii is someone whose commitment to the poor and to those who couldn't help themselves, the people he called the other, the marginalized was every bit as great as any popes has been so there is real continuity. remember, the gospels themselves are about and catholic social teaching, it is caring for the poor, educating and taking care of the sick, community. so this continuity will go on, plus he has obvious humility which appeals to the cardinals. they knew that. and, at the same time, they knew they have a church in crisis that under great pressure and attack from within and from without. and the hope is that he is deal with this and, at the same time, the teachings of the church that these cardinals are of whom are "pointed by benedict and john paul, ii the teachings to regard to sex and gender and role of the priesthood, et cetera, he will be a fierce defender of these traditions, they believe. and, at the same time, i would think that he knows that the role of women have to change, that the nuns of the church are one of the great assets of this church and he knows the nuns. he has worked with the nuns. might be a way forward to increasing the role of women, while, at the same time, not inhibiting the traditional priesthood. >> to be a defender of the catholic church but also to bring this church into the future, he is going to have to have his own version and this is the big question, of what john paul, ii brought to the table which was a certain ka ris -- charisma and galvanize young people. >> john paul, ii used to great effect and loved young people and is coming up in brazil next year. that is a huge event. everything we know about this new pope tells us that he will perform great acts and relate to latin americans, at least, can help get the catholic churches full again. that is restoring faith, both in his own continent but of course here in north america and europe where it's declining very rapidly is central to this pope's mission. >> jon meacham, there have been challenges and will be challenges to this pope's selection from people inside and outside of the church because he is conservative theologically. "the wall street journal" writes this morning, as for the lament that pope francis is merely another catholic who believes in catholic doingmgma what do you think? that means they need to be less religious to survive in the modern world and strikes as a misreading of the appeal of christianity since its founding but there is no doubt -- i agree with that, by the way -- why do you go to church if you want to be the same as secular elites? that said, he has, throughout his life, balanced two worlds. he grew up in latin america when, as you know and mike certainly remembers, and carl remembers, you had this liberation theology. the mixing of marxism and christianity which certainly was the rage for some time in the '60s and '70s and even '80s. he resisted that, but while dolg that, he also provided absolutely no comfort to the wealthy there. in fact, cited on the side of the dispossessed. so he has proven he can -- he can walk a fine line between two competing interests. >> absolutely. i think it's a critical point, i think, here that this is a john paul, ii culture of life orthodox holy father. this is not someone who is sweeping in with some new theological vision. one of the most interesting things to me about catholicism is the consistency of that life. they are unlike american political parties, for instance, they actually do support life in most -- throughout the various stages. they are antiabortion but also antideath penalty. they are for caring for the poor. they care about people who after they were born. and so there is a kind of coherence to what john paul, ii preached and francis em bo embodies. >> i think one of the more interesting aspects of his pay pa pas papacy is he is a jesuit and they are in the fight for catholic relief services around the globe and catholic charities around at home. again, i'm struck by the vision century when christ visited him and told to pposedly what he was told.uin this pope at the age of e76, it raises the question. the rules are the rus. those are the rules and will not ange under this poem. he not, all of a sudden, is going to have women up on the altar get that straight i'm sure to the disappointment of a great many americans. but, on the other hand, rebuilding the church and giving voice to what the church is truly all about to caring for the poor, to addressing income, inequality. not only in latin america but throughout the world. growth of the church in terms of faith and spirit that this pope will bring to that faith, that, to me, is an interesting thing to watch. >> also the fact that as the pope said, the church is about the teachings of christ. including what this pope and his predecessors regarding as teachings that he is not going to give on in terms of what the role of priesthood and et cetera. at the same time, in the resume of the jesuits, john paul, ii deventstraighted them in the 1980s and through them out because they were too radical in his belief that they had gotten too close to the marxist and those advocating for the poor and he took them under his own care and said out with the leadership and this new pope comes from that replaced leadership. so he knows how to move this fine line which these cardinals have very good at within the church between these competing factions and beliefs and, at the same time, the theology goes on unchange thissing. >> we are looking right now at what happened many decades ago in 1979 when pope john paul, ii brought so much excitement to new york. your father, well before he was pope, he talked about what a remarkable man he was and the joy he brought. and the moral clarity he brought on so many issues. >> we had a chance to meet him when he came to washington. and received communion. he had a certain charm and charisma that only a good polish man could bring. >> he was a geo political genius. speaking of that, jon meacham -- he also helped bring down the soviet union. jon meacham, i want to go back to what carl said from the beginning. a very astute choice that the college of cardinals made because, yes, they got a man from the new world who was old. they got a man who believed in church docket rin but instead of 52 or 53 or 60-year-old pope that would be there for 20 years, they selected a man who was 76. he seems like a transitional pope. but in the best sense of the word, he could be an extraordinarily important historic figure in the 2,000 year history of this church. >> he absolutely could. remember, john 23rd was thought to be a transitional figure and he was. i think what is interesting to watch here is the balance that francis strikes between two of the missions of the church. one is looking upward which is sacramental and repeating commandment in do this in remembrance of me and reaching out and embodying and enacting that gospel of caring for the less fortunate. it will be a very interesting dynamic because you also have a church that has been, we have to note, under enormous and justified fire for not protecting its own children, for protecting its priests at the price of in terms of sexual abuse at the price of the flock, and you have here a pope who said when my brothers looked for a cardinal, they looked for a pope, they went to the ends of the earth. which reminded me, john paul, ii when he stepped out said that you have called a pope from a far country. so it may be that you have someone coming in to rome who, you know, if i were a corrupt and bureaucrat, i wouldn't be particularly sleeping well right now. >> and also, i mean, two other elements here. the jesuit calling for the spirit of renewal. spirit of renewal. that is big with the jesuits and outsider from argentina can he manage the internal politics of the vatican? >> well, how do you bring transparency to that and a certain amount needed so that you prevent what we have seen when you have secrecy and you have tradition, there's a lot of great things that are so beautiful about the catholic church that i love so much. but that secrecy and that lack of transparency, obviously, led to some clear problems and divisions that will stay with this church for years to come unless they figure out how to fix that. katie? >> you wonder. somebody who has made a point of being outside of the vatican for so long. he was the runner-up when pope benedict was chosen and reports from inside that conclave said actually don't choose me. don't choose me as the next pope. he left and went back to alternat argentina. one cardinal went back to buenos aires and said outside the system. maybe he can come in cooking his own meals and living in otherwise own apartment and not using a chauffeur because he pref preferred to take the bus. maybe because of that and the pomp and circumstance we have seen over the last couple of weeks and maybe it takes somebody from the outside to say, this is an organization that needs to have the windows opened on that secrecy and needs reform and needs change. >> let's hope. coming up on "morning joe," microsoft bill gates will be with us and former congressman barney frank will be here and "hardball's" chris matthews. up next, president obama meets face-to-face for the house republicans since 2011 first. first, a check on the forecast. >> a nice tease. the spring weather with us the last three or four days on the eastern seaboard is gone this morning. grab the winter clothes. chilly. the windchill values in the teens now across pennsylvania, much of new york state and now the cold air is sweeping right into boston, hartford, providence and philly and d.c. a cold day and at least we will have some sunshine. snow on the map coming down from minneapolis and rochester. careful driving on the roads there and snow work toward the quad cities and chicago may see snowflakes. winter forecast for many areas of the great lakes and northeast. snow showers in the northeast this morning too. you may see some of those if you look out the window in southeastern connecticut and southern rhode island right now. so the highs today much cooler than yesterday. upper 30s to low 40s. typically, we should be near 50 this time of year, so this is unusually cold. as i mentioned yesterday, the whole southern half of the country is enjoying very beautiful weather. still a little chilly in atlanta but it's sunny and nice afternoon. gorgeous from kansas city to texas. as we go throughout the next couple of days through st. paddy's day the march weather pattern is here to stay and a couple of storms from canada and rain and snow mixes from the midwest, great lakes and into the northeast. the first one friday, saturday, another one right behind it so southern half of the country, thumb's half. northern half of the country, we are waiting for april. you're watching "morning joe." we are brewed by starbucks. ♪ take me to that other place teach me ♪ [ nyquil bottle ] hey tylenol, you know we're kinda like twins. 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