New Pope

[mshray]

The White Smoke is issuing forth & the bells are ringing.  After only 4 votes a new Pope has been selected, but we still don't know which Cardinal it is.

[mshray]

fwiw, I guess only Cardinal Ratzinger could have been selected that fast.  He'd been JPII's right hand man & main theoretical/philosophical partner in all of his edicts.  He was also directly involved in elevating over 80% of today's Cardinals.  He's in his seventies so he won't be around forever, but he is not the guy likely to in any way modernize church thinking during his tenure.

[mshray]

Last bit of speculation...I also don't see how any new Pope, particularly if it's Ratzinger, could take any other name than John Paul III.

[urth]

Last bit of speculation...I also don't see how any new Pope, particularly if it's Ratzinger, could take any other name than John Paul III.

You're right but only partly:

According to SFGate: Yes, it's Ratzinger. But he's chosen the name Pope Benedict XVI. Huh?!?!?

And he's 78, so you're probably right in that he won't be around nearly as long as his predecessor.

[mshray]

Last bit of speculation...I also don't see how any new Pope, particularly if it's Ratzinger, could take any other name than John Paul III.

You're right but only partly:

According to SFGate: Yes, it's Ratzinger. But he's chosen the name Pope Benedict XVI. Huh?!?!?

And he's 78, so you're probably right in that he won't be around nearly as long as his predecessor.

I am sitting in my hotel room watching the news & after I posted that last note I heard one of the analysts saying that this was a possibility because Benendict XV was a great unifier & clarifier of doctrine earlier last century (not sure of his dates).

[RGMike]

Nobody expects the... German Inquisition ?!?

[mshray]

FYI, here's what found about Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922):

Born Giacomo della Chiesa in Pegli, Italy, 1854; died Rome, Italy, 1922. Nuncio to Spain, privy chamberlain, Archbishop of Bologna, and cardinal, he was elected directly after the outbreak of the World War, and maintained a position of neutrality throughout. He sent a representative to each country to work for peace, and in 1917 delivered the Plea for Peace, which demanded a cessation of hostilities, a reduction of armaments, a guaranteed freedom of the seas, and international arbitration. President Wilson was the only ruler who answered him, declaring peace impossible, though he afterwards adopted most of Benedict's proposals for establishing peace. At the close of the war France and Spain resumed diplomatic relations with the Vatican, and Great Britain retained permanently the embassy she had established during the war. Benedict promulgated the new Code of Canon Law, established the Coptic College at Rome, enlarged the foreign mission field, and in his first Encyclical condemned errors in modern philosophical systems. He denounced the violation of Belgium and gave freely to the victims of the war, widows, orphans, and wounded, and established a bureau of communication for prisoners of war with their relatives.

[Gazoo]

Last bit of speculation...I also don't see how any new Pope, particularly if it's Ratzinger, could take any other name than John Paul III.

You're right but only partly:

According to SFGate: Yes, it's Ratzinger. But he's chosen the name Pope Benedict XVI. Huh?!?!?

And he's 78, so you're probably right in that he won't be around nearly as long as his predecessor.

Presumably, after JPII had such a long and eventful and travel-heavy run ("Il Papa was a rolling stone," as it were), they want someone who'll sit on his tookas and do nothing, giving the Church a period of respite.

Not that this does humanity any good.  But I am reminding myself of the wise words of Harlem: don't hate the playas, hate the game.

[RGMike]

I am reminding myself of the wise words of Harlem: don't hate the playas, hate the game.

in this case the playas have the power to change the game, but won't. So hell YEAH I hate them too.

"Meet the new Pope
Same as the old Pope"

[RGMike]

A bit late, as the "election" is over, but pretty freakin' hilarious:

http://www.drewmarlowe.com/pictures/brackets.jpg

[RGMike]

and Mark Morford, bless his soul, chimes in:

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/

[Gazoo]

Virgin Mary appears in underpass stain:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/20/mary.underpass.ap/index.html

If that's what we're reduced to for signs of the divine, then we need a whole lotta healing.

On the other hand, this quote from a CNN article is grounds for hope:

"Nearly three-quarters of American Catholics say they are more likely to follow their own conscience on 'difficult moral questions,' rather than the teachings of the new pope, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted after the pontiff's election."

[RGMike]

Virgin Mary appears in underpass stain:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/20/mary.underpass.ap/index.html

If that's what we're reduced to for signs of the divine, then we need a whole lotta healing.

devout Catholics are not exactly known for their creativity...

[Beej]

The first German pope was Gregory the V in the late 900s. He's mentioned in my play.

I used to hang out at a board called Fametracker. But, then that closed. Some of the survivors formed a board I now ang out at called SnarkFest. During the last days at Fametracker I happened to create these 2 pictures: Jesus Hangs Out w/the Olsen Twns & Jesus Does Leno. Yesterday, a SnakFestian was commenting on how funny they were and so the moderator of the board asked me to create something about the new pope.

I came up with this: "Joseph's first few weeks at the new job were great. And his supervisor was a pretty cool guy. Until one day..."

[princessofcairo]

i don't think popes should have names other than pope pious or pope perpetual grease, or something like that. i think a pope named ratslinger takes all of the mystique out of catholocism.

was it a tps report, beej?