The media silly season prior to a conclave may have just reached its peak.

The media has been giving all kinds of silly advice to the cardinal-electors and the future pontiff, but E.J. Dionne’s idiocy takes the cake.

In giving up the papacy, Pope Benedict XVI was brave and bold. He did the unexpected for the good of the Catholic Church. And when it selects a new pope next month, the College of Cardinals should be equally brave and bold. It is time to elect a nun as the next pontiff.
…
A sister as pope could also resolve what might seem a contradiction in Catholic theology. More than Protestants, Catholics are profoundly devoted to the Virgin Mary — and few were as devoted as the late Pope John Paul II, who declared that Mary “sustains the spiritual life of us all, and encourages us, even in suffering, to have faith and hope.” A church for which the Blessed Mother plays such an important role should certainly be comfortable with female leadership.

While support for a stronger role for women in the church tends to be a “liberal” cause, many faithful conservatives also cite the work of nuns as reinforcing their devotion to the church — from the sisters who educated them in parish schools to the work of Mother Teresa’s religious order.

To even critique the writing of (e)EJ(it) is to give it more credibility than it deserves. It is infantile in the extreme.

That this is what passes for legitimate commentary is a paper such as the WaPo is all the evidence one would need to secure an indictment of irrelevancy.

*subhead*Stupidest thing of the day..*subhead*