The television coverage of what's happening in Rome is quite a bit different than the announcement of a new President of the LDS Church (the fastest growing church in the world) in Salt Lake City. At least in SLC there is no mystery in the process which is colorless and dry and the guy is wearing a Wall Street suit. Mystery is half the fun, white smoke and all.

To be sure, the new Pope will have the grip the bull by the horns and clean shop.

Yeah, the pageantry and history is cool. Le't hope they elect someone a bit more to the left than the last two.

Or the last 200.

JohnXXXIII was liberal. We could use another like him. Supposedly John Paul I was pretty liberal too, but didn't live long enough to do anything.

Shoes of the Fisherman, a movie from many decades ago which they show on AMC all the time, showed all this interesting smoke stuff. Good crowd shots and showing of the anticipation on peoples faces, as well as the intermittent silences between the cheering while they waited to hear the news.

A lot of the movie sucked and acting was overdone by the newscaster covering the conclave portion and by the man playing the young priest who dies as his fate is being determined---BUT, the ending of that movie was definitely more wonderful than any ending to this conclave that can be offered.

The new pope in the movie ordered all the massive wealth of the church to be disbursed amongst the faithful and the Vatican walls to come down.

So, no pope they name IRL right now is going to thrill me, compared to that.

That would not be very practicle and I would worry about the treasures that are now Vatican owned, but some version of the idea would be great.

I would be satisfied with archives being made public, real estate holdings being made public, banking records being made public and investigative /justice files being made public. And the sovereignty of the Vatican state being revoked.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2013 02:49PM by bookratt.

Let's Go Shopping!

Wait, I've got my religions mixed up.

I wonder if Mormons are seething at the fact that the whole world is watching and is interested in who the new pope will be, while everyone could care less about the one "true" church! Ha!

I think it's a big drag for them. Why is the whole world watching?

it may be something to do with the (estimated) 1.2 billion catholics in the world

I'm guessing Conservative

He is supposedly dedicated to the poor and has lived a very simply life.Has a small apartment, does his own cooking and rides the bus. He named himself after Francis of Assisi. This could be a good sign. Now if were a liberal that would be great.

have a dog in this fight.

Time will tell, but if he patterns himslf after St francis, that part is good.It would be nice if he had liberal views on contraception, gay rights etc.

I like what I'm hearing.

I like him. He looks "Popey"

The new pope being a Jesuit, I hope his knowledge of reasoning goes beyond sylogisms. I have found judges taught in a Jesuit law school to lack reasoning knowledge beyond St. Thomas Aquinas. Regardless, the world can at least hope he opens up the priesthood.

I was expecting another hardliner Opus Dei freak like Ratzinger the Nazi. Instead, we get a Jesuit from Argentina who takes the name of my favorite saint. St. Francis was a model of humility, charity and kindness, unlike the hardline, plutocratic nastiness of Ratzinger's regime.

Is he a conservative? Yes. He's antigay and antichoice, but what can you expect from the Vatican? Hopefully he will focus his energies on solving the church's problems of ignoring the poor, clergy molesting children and removing itself from secular politics.

It's far better than another Ratzinger in office. Perhaps he was so scarred by the scandals that the church had no choice but to moderate its stances.

Ratzinger just beat him last time round and now he's the man. Perhaps Ratzinger's past came back to haunt him and the church so he was put out to grass and the runner-up brought forward. I think all the pontificating was just for show.

However, he seems like a decent enough chap with a humble countenance and friendly smile. Somehow, I might even like him, as a man, because I don't do religion.

The catholics might as well have a good bloke leading them as a bad one can do harm, especially as there are so many millions (heaven knows how many but who cares, more than most) he could influence.

Peace out...

Briggy