Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Pope-er-ry!

So, I've been following this story,
and as far as I can tell, he's still dead.
But that's not the news I'm interested in.
I was listening to the radio on the way in
and accidentally heard the news, and they said
that the pope's will had no mention of the
"secret" cardinal he claimed to have appointed.

Now, we know this pope was in bed with Opus Dei
and had a hard-on for silencing dissent
but what do we know
about secret cardinals?
anyone?
anything?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read in the paper this morning that cardinals appointed in secret are generally those that serve areas of the world where Catholicism isn't tolerated.

So my guess is he appointed a cardinal for China (which has a state-approved Catholic church that doesn't recognize the authority of the Vatican) to represent the underground church, whose members practice in secret.

Also: has anyone else been frustrated that even the "respectable" MSM hasn't done much coverage of criticism of John Paul II's reign?

- Ryan

Kid Ornery said...

I haven't watched or listened to the MSM in quite some time...
having no real TV at home is quite liberating...and I actually just stumbled across the news this morning on the radio. I normally turn the station the minute they start talking on any channel except 88.7, 90.1 and KTRU...
and I haven't listened to NPR in months...

I am enjoying the fact that Hannity's quote about the pope being a "nutty liberal" is at least getting some play in the blogosphere...

Anonymous said...

I meant the NYTimes, WaPo, LATimes, Wall Street Journal &c as "respectable" MSM (unless I'm wrong on this and print media doesn't count as mainstream media).

My point was, even they have been really subdued in covering a pope who, for all his humanitarian and interfaith efforts, obviously wanted to roll back reforms since the Second Vatican Council. All I'm reading are these wonderful encomiums about his trumping Communism.

Maybe it's just too early after his death (and I admit I don't know a whole lot about Catholicism), but it seems like the cardinals picking the new pope would be considering that, so that should get more coverage. But so far I've read maybe...two or three articles that even address that.

It's just frustrating is all.

Kid Ornery said...

If you think it'll help I'll write a letter to the editor saying, "The Pope was a fuck and I'm glad he's dead." but I doubt it'll get published.

My prediction is that the next Pope will be more conservative. We will continue to see the rollback of Vatican II (Electric Boogaloo or The Wrath of Khan? I forget...). The Catholic church will continue to be on the wrong side of reproductive rights, and pretty much all gender or sexuality related issues. The latest short period (liberation theology, the 60's, berrigan, all that) of The Church identifying with the people (at least in some places) is at an end. The Church is aligning itself more and more with the powerful (the top always has) and less and less with people in very real ways. These trends will continue. Opus Dei will continue to grow, etc...

Damn reptiles!

Usual disclaimers about me knowing nothing apply.