I thought it was kinda funny that Victor called me not once but on two phones yesterday to let me know that there was a new pope. I don't think I've been overtly obsessing about this. Perhaps I've underestimated how huge a story this is.
Actually, I know I underestimated it. I'm taken aback by how many people who aren't Catholic seem to care.
As it happened, I left the office for my doctor's appointment just as they started ringing the bells at St. Peter's, and made it home just in time to see the curtains part on the balcony. And I admit, what I was thinking was "Please don't let it be Ratzinger." But...especially since what do I care?...I'll take Cardinal McCarrick's word for it that it's not that bad...and even if McCarrick himself had been elected, I'm not sure I'd be going back to church.
I'd love to know McCarrick's true feelings. He and Ratzinger (I'm assuming that the stuff he said and wrote as Cardinal Ratzinger are still attributed to Cardinal Ratzinger, because he wasn't infailable yet) had a bit of a different position on politicians who voted pro-choice receiving communion, if I recall correctly. (I started to search this topic, but I saw the phrase "pro-abortion" once too often and I felt my blood pressure rise. There is such a huge difference between voting to keep abortion legal and being in favor of it...it's not like people are going out trying to force pregnant women to have abortions. So anyway, I don't need the top of my head blowing off, so I'll drop this for the time being.)
Anyway. I read a bunch of political type blogs today (which I usually don't do) and thought it was kinda funny how the conservatives seem to be gushing about Benedict as much as they gushed about John Paul. Were they gushing over the Vatican when the Iraq war started? I know there were pissed-off bloggers when Cardinal Renato Martino (in the Vatican) expressed compassion for Saddam Hussein after his capture.
I'm just sayin'...conservative Catholic and American political conservative isn't a one-to-one correspondence.
Oh, and I while I was reading stuff I don't usually read, I checked out Andrew Sullivan, too. He had some lines about not being able to leave the Church that hit me hard, hard because I so understand this. I've seen more than a few people saying about liberal Catholics who are upset about the prospect of the Benedict XVI papacy that "hey, if you don't like their rules, leave their club." It isn't that easy, and I guess you need to be there to understand that.
Posted by Nic at April 20, 2005 05:50 PM