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This might be my favorite sentence of the day:

The buzz around the Borgo Pio this afternoon was the pope taking the regular employee elevator today. There is an excitement here.

OMG! He took a regular elevator! He rode back to the Vatican in a bus instead of a limousine! He’s not wearing the red shoes! This is becoming like Tiger Beat for the papal set.

I don’t really begrudge Catholics their excitement over the selection of a new pope. But enough’s enough. There’s really no sign yet that Francis can—or even wants to—change the way the church is run in any significant way. Riding in an elevator sure isn’t one. After all, Jimmy Carter wore cardigans, and how far did that get him?

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

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