Nigeria, April 26 -- The ascendancy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, to the papacy was a trinity of sorts. It was historic, prophetic and redeeming. For 1,272 years, the papacy was occupied by Europeans only, especially the Italians. Some even joked about the Italian Mafia at work. Indeed, some mafia might at various stages been at work.

For instance, Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, made his son Cesare Borgia, a bishop at 15 and cardinal at 18. Cesare wielded considerable power in the papal army, and the only obstacle for him becoming the Captain General of the church, that is the supreme commander of the Papal State Armed Forces, was his uncle, Giovani Borgia. The latter, in 1497, conveniently turned up dead in the River Tiber...