Habemus papam
So Ratzinger is going to take John Paul's place. And he's ideologically an even crustier european male caucasian than the last one. John Paul, though he was just the cutest little doddering old man in the whole wide world, was also, I'm afraid to say, a vicious bastard, whose oppressive ideologies contributed massively to the worldwide fear and hatred of homosexuals, and to the prevention of realistic solutions (i.e., birth control / condoms) to both explosive population growth in catholic countries wracked by poverty and to the spread of AIDS, especially in Africa. I know, I know; part of me just wanted to pinch his pudgy cheeks and pat his wobbly little head too, but the man was hurting the world.
(And for christ's sake how about the way the media has him pretty much single-handedly tearing down communism. Can't Gorbachev sue or something?)
And now the white smoke (actually gray... hmmm) has come out of the catholic club treehouse, and the German guy, Ratzinger -- eine uberconservatischtebastard -- will wear the funny hat for the next few years. This is basically a more conservative version of JP. "He has denounced homosexuality as evil and other religions as "deficient". He also reined in proponents of Latin American liberation theology," for example; and though JP did this stuff, he at least did it in more circuitous, ambiguous language.
There are bright sides to this!
One is that the Deutscher is already 78, so he's not far from his final reward.
The other is that the catholic church is totally hemorrhaging the faithful in Latin America. Although its been a major stronghold of Catholicism for ages, Latin Americans have been jumping ship to protestantism like mad, owing to the fact that Catholic dogmas are so blatantly contributing to the poverty and cultural erosion taking place there. This is why the church was making noises about considering a Latin American pope. There was no way they actually would have done it, but clearly it couldn't hurt them to say that oh yes by golly we're certainly considering it, and I'm sure they hoped this would make some Latin American believers feel all squishy and loved inside. But since the church can't bring itself to take the steps that would actually stop this mass exodus, it's assured that for years to come, Catholicism will shrink and shrink and shrink.
(By the way, I want to be clear that I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with Catholicism per se, as compared with other religions; it's only the kind of dogmas being spit out by the recent* papacy, and the hierarchical imposition of these dogmas on all constituents of the church. But since the current catholic church officially supports heinous shit, I'm all for the phallus of catholicism shrinking down to greek-statue size.)
Also, Ratzinger isn't nearly as cute as JP was, so you don't have to feel quite as bad about taking pot shots at him like I am right now.
* where "recent" = the past two or so millenia.
(And for christ's sake how about the way the media has him pretty much single-handedly tearing down communism. Can't Gorbachev sue or something?)
And now the white smoke (actually gray... hmmm) has come out of the catholic club treehouse, and the German guy, Ratzinger -- eine uberconservatischtebastard -- will wear the funny hat for the next few years. This is basically a more conservative version of JP. "He has denounced homosexuality as evil and other religions as "deficient". He also reined in proponents of Latin American liberation theology," for example; and though JP did this stuff, he at least did it in more circuitous, ambiguous language.
There are bright sides to this!
One is that the Deutscher is already 78, so he's not far from his final reward.
The other is that the catholic church is totally hemorrhaging the faithful in Latin America. Although its been a major stronghold of Catholicism for ages, Latin Americans have been jumping ship to protestantism like mad, owing to the fact that Catholic dogmas are so blatantly contributing to the poverty and cultural erosion taking place there. This is why the church was making noises about considering a Latin American pope. There was no way they actually would have done it, but clearly it couldn't hurt them to say that oh yes by golly we're certainly considering it, and I'm sure they hoped this would make some Latin American believers feel all squishy and loved inside. But since the church can't bring itself to take the steps that would actually stop this mass exodus, it's assured that for years to come, Catholicism will shrink and shrink and shrink.
(By the way, I want to be clear that I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with Catholicism per se, as compared with other religions; it's only the kind of dogmas being spit out by the recent* papacy, and the hierarchical imposition of these dogmas on all constituents of the church. But since the current catholic church officially supports heinous shit, I'm all for the phallus of catholicism shrinking down to greek-statue size.)
Also, Ratzinger isn't nearly as cute as JP was, so you don't have to feel quite as bad about taking pot shots at him like I am right now.
* where "recent" = the past two or so millenia.