Like many around the world, St. John's Archbishop Martin Currie spent Wednesday glued to the television for news on who the new leader of Roman Catholic church would be.

Currie said there's renewed hope that Pope Francis could attract new followers to the faith. He said the Pope, who has no history at the Vatican, could be the one to do it — if he can marry the Church's old-school values with the new world.

Currie spent five years as a priest in Latin America.

"Now we have a cardinal from Argentina who has a tremendous love for the poor, who rides public transportation to work, so it was surprising to most people. Surprising to me."

A group gathered at St. Teresa's Parish in St. John's Wednesday night to pray for the new Pope. (CBC)

On Wednesday night, members of the Catholic young adults society gathered at St. Teresa's Parish in St. John's to pray for the new Pope, and to talk about what he could mean for the image of the Church.

One man said the Pope seems to be down to earth.

"I think he'll bring a new approach that a lot of young people will appreciate, I think."

Another man discussed his feelings on sexual abuse in the Church.

"To be able to address the sexual abuse crisis primarily, because I think there's a lot of victims out there who feel that not enough has been done."

Currie agrees.

"I think we need to put behind us all the sex abuse stuff and clean the slate."

Many wonder if good, old-fashioned values will be enough in the new world.

"If we're going to get into the lives of the young, we need to get into the digital world," said Currie.