Age-old problem

I am sure that Jorge Mario 
Bergoglio, the new Pope, has many admirable qualities but many people will feel that, in view of the huge problems 
facing the Roman Catholic Church, it is extraordinary to appoint a man of 76 as its head (your report, 14 March)

I cannot think of any other large organisation that would appoint a septuagenarian to be in charge. I fear the many large problems facing the Catholic Church will be quietly shuffled into the backwaters and it will be business as usual for the Vatican bureaucracy.

It is just possible that a younger man might have had the time and energy to drag the Church into the 21st century.

Hugh M Mackenzie

Bonnethill Road

Pitlochry

Commentators report that the new Pope is conservative on marriage, but concerned for the poor: in other words, the new Pope is a Catholic. Do people not realise that this juxtaposition of what are regarded as left- and right-wing priorities flows directly from Biblical teaching?

Richard Lucas

Broomyknowe

Edinburgh