After the papal conclave of 2005 in which Pope Benedict XVI was elected, international evangelist Luis Palau joked to Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio that he wished the cardinal would have won so that Palau could honestly say, “The pope is my friend!” But as of Wednesday this week, when white smoke was finally sighted in the Vatican, such a statement turned suddenly accurate.

RELEVANT: Many people will be watching to see how Pope Francis navigates the relationship between Catholics and evangelicals. Do you have any thoughts on this?

Palau: He’s out to make an incredible turn-around, to be a bridge-builder. He’s worked on it from the very beginning of his position as Cardinal of all Argentina. He worked on it when he became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the capital, which has 13 million people. And he has publicly worked with evangelical Christians.

For instance, there were some laws in the Argentine Congress for Senate going for votes, and he led the way in some of those bills contrary to the politicians on education. And he called up the evangelical leaders and said, “Look, I can lead the way on this one if you back me up.” Then when there was another social issue of major proportions, again in the Argentine Congress and Senate, the evangelicals said, “Well, you lead the way, Bishop, and we’ll back you.” And he said, “No, no. On this one, you lead the way and I’ll back you.” And he did.

RELEVANT: So he’s been very intentional about building relationships with other evangelical leaders?

He’s met with many evangelical Christian leaders from the early days of his leadership. He’s made a point of it. Not boasting of it, but simply and quietly. I just got a note this morning from the Anglican Bishop of Argentina, who’s a strong leader, very evangelical. And he said the same thing I do: that they get together for breakfast, that they pray and talk about the state of the world, of the church and secularism.

His bridge-building is about fighting together for moral causes based in Scripture. We know there are differences between Christianity and the Roman Catholic theology, but those can be handled when there are gentle attitudes between us.