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jamesqSome thoughts on the passing of John Paul II, who is already being proclaimed John Paul the Great (making him only the third pope ever to be proclaimed such. Strangely, Peter wasn't one of them):
I agree with what![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lullabypit suggested in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
5th_estate, The next pope really needs to call himself Pope George Ringo.
grog has a nice take on his religious and moral views. Namely that he was honest about them even if you didn't necessarily agree with them.
The next pope can be any one of the half billion or so male Catholics in the world. In practice it'll actually be one of the college of cardinals. But wouldn't it be great if they picked someone else? I think they should pick the Archbishop of Canterbury personally. Being the head of the Anglican church he might not qualify.
The Italian's have a saying - There is nothing deader than a dead pope. What they mean is the old pope's wishes no longer matter. The Cardinals will make their choice for new pope for their own reasons. The idea that the cardinals, almost all picked by JPII personally and probably being like minded, will pick a JPII clone is most likely flawed then.
I'd like to see a reformer (in the traditional, not Albertan, sense) as the new pope. Someone who will drag the church kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Someone who will relax the rules about birth control, abortion, equal rights for gays, female and/or married priests, etc.
I don't think that happy event will occur, but I can dream. Truth is, whoever the new pope is, there is a limit to how liberal they can become. And there is a flip side to western liberals leaving the church because it is too conservative - conservative church members leaving the church because it is too liberal. Mel Gibson belongs to one of these "orthodox catholic" sects. They pretty much think Vatican II and everything that follows it was wrong. A hypothetical "Vatican III", which is what you would need to implement my wish list above, would drive many more away.
So there is no pope for at least a week, and probably not for at least three. If your catholic, and gay, or you just want to have lots of pre-marital sex while using birth control, now's your chance! Who's to say that the next pope won't decide it's not a sin after all. And maybe you'll discover that us heretics aren't so bad after all.
I agree with what
lullabypit suggested in 5th_estate, The next pope really needs to call himself Pope George Ringo.grog has a nice take on his religious and moral views. Namely that he was honest about them even if you didn't necessarily agree with them.
The next pope can be any one of the half billion or so male Catholics in the world. In practice it'll actually be one of the college of cardinals. But wouldn't it be great if they picked someone else? I think they should pick the Archbishop of Canterbury personally. Being the head of the Anglican church he might not qualify.
The Italian's have a saying - There is nothing deader than a dead pope. What they mean is the old pope's wishes no longer matter. The Cardinals will make their choice for new pope for their own reasons. The idea that the cardinals, almost all picked by JPII personally and probably being like minded, will pick a JPII clone is most likely flawed then.
I'd like to see a reformer (in the traditional, not Albertan, sense) as the new pope. Someone who will drag the church kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Someone who will relax the rules about birth control, abortion, equal rights for gays, female and/or married priests, etc.
I don't think that happy event will occur, but I can dream. Truth is, whoever the new pope is, there is a limit to how liberal they can become. And there is a flip side to western liberals leaving the church because it is too conservative - conservative church members leaving the church because it is too liberal. Mel Gibson belongs to one of these "orthodox catholic" sects. They pretty much think Vatican II and everything that follows it was wrong. A hypothetical "Vatican III", which is what you would need to implement my wish list above, would drive many more away.
So there is no pope for at least a week, and probably not for at least three. If your catholic, and gay, or you just want to have lots of pre-marital sex while using birth control, now's your chance! Who's to say that the next pope won't decide it's not a sin after all. And maybe you'll discover that us heretics aren't so bad after all.
Western Liberal Values and The R/C Church
Date: 2005-04-05 06:26 am (UTC)My guess is that although the next pope will likely be Italian, his attention will be towards the positions and beliefs of these areas. In other words, he's apt to drag the church kicking and screaming into the 18th century - or earlier)
Fortunately, groups like Opus Dei are the Roman Catholic equivalent of the Byfields - opinionated, stubborn, loud and mostly irrelevant.
- Grog
http://www.crystalgaze2.blogspot.com/