On March 14, Catholic World Report released a video of Ignatius Press founder/editor Father Joseph Fessio, S.J. and Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, discussing the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis on March 13.

Excerpt from Father Fessio’s comments:

In the pope’s “kingly or administrative role the most important characteristic of an administrator is the people that you hire.”

The appointment of bishops “improved under John Paul II, were even better under Benedict, and under Cardinal Ouellet, prefect of the congregation of bishops, will continue to produce good, strong, holy, articulate, courageous bishops around the world. Certainly here in California and the West Coast we’ve been abundantly blessed in the last two or three years with the new appointments.

“I think that is the key to a successful papacy for the long run because popes can’t run dioceses. Bishops are in charge of dioceses and the seminaries. And in the seminaries you form the young priests. So when you have a good bishop, you have a healthy church for 25 years. You have vocations, you have better formed priests, you have a liturgy which is more reverent, and the life of the faithful becomes energized.

“I’m old enough to be a cynic, but I have to say with John Paul II, then Benedict, and now Francis, I am very optimistic for the real life of the Church, especially on the West Coast of the U.S. and the rest of the U.S.”

See the video here.