The next Pope will not be who the media expects. You know how I know this? Because the last two Popes have not been who the media expects. This is, quite simply, because the media model is flawed.
The media consistently makes the mistake of treating Church affairs as they treat the affairs of government. We witness this daily in their treatment of doctrine as just the latest policy fad and subject to the whim of the current president of the Vatican State.
Of course, this is not to suggest that there are no politics involved in Church affairs. Wherever people are present, politics follow. But the affairs of Church are different than the affairs of State. The media love a horse race and they love lists. The selection of a Pope allows them to indulge in these two loves. So we get lists of ‘papabile’ and we get odds from Paddy Power.
But there is a dynamic that the media just doesn’t get. The men making this selection have dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ and His Church. They have dedicated their lives to teaching what Jesus taught. They are not looking merely for someone who represents their political preferences, they are looking for someone who is completely dedicated to Truth with a capital T. And they don’t just vote, they pray. They pray a lot.
The media misses all these things, but most of all they miss what the Church IS. The Church is not an institution of man, it is God’s, and God defends it. If you go back and read the Didache, if you read the Father’s of the Church, you will find that what the Church taught then is what the Church teaches now. That simply does not happen with institutions of man. No, God did that. Moreover, God does that.
That is what they miss. The Church belongs to God and God has a say.
February 12, 2013 at 4:17 pm
So true!
February 12, 2013 at 4:54 pm
Good one!
February 12, 2013 at 7:09 pm
Did you know that even you can become Pope. So there.
February 12, 2013 at 7:24 pm
Just because Patrick or, for that matter, Matthew can become Pope, it is comforting to know one of them will not be our next Pope.
February 13, 2013 at 6:26 pm
Very good. I predict that our next Pope will be a male, single Catholic.
February 13, 2013 at 9:47 pm
The problem is that they do'nt believe in Catholicism, and they don't think we really do either.
February 16, 2013 at 9:28 pm
I think Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was an obvious choice to be Pope after Bl. John Paul II. There are some very good Italian Cardinals who I would love to see as Pope, both Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco and Cardinal Mauro Piacenza. The African Cardinal Francis Arinze of course would be great also and Cardinal Oullet of Canada. Anyway it is up to the Cardinals, and all of us need to pray to the Lord and the Holy Spirit to guide them to pick the one that Jesus wants to lead the Church in these most difficult times. Let Gods will be done…