The New Pope

People seem to be split over the choice of the cardinal conclave to chose cardinal Ratzinger as the newly elected Pope. While some people are relieved that the wait is over, others are concerned that he may not be exactly what the catholic church needs at the moment. Besides the fact that at some point in time he was a member of the Hitler Youth, the New York Times has a list of reasons why his choice may not be a very good one in these modern times. Here is the moneyshot: "Having seen fascism in action, Ratzinger today believes that the best antidote to political totalitarianism is ecclesiastical totalitarianism," he wrote. "In other words, he believes the Catholic Church serves the cause of human freedom by restricting freedom in its internal life, thereby remaining clear about what it teaches and believes." Totalitarianism, indeed, critics might say. They cite a long list of theologians Cardinal Ratzinger has chastised for straying from official doctrine; his condemnation of "relativism," or the belief that other denominations and faiths lead equally to salvation; his denunciation of liberation theology, homosexuality and feminism; his attempt to rein in national bishops conferences; his belief that the Second Vatican Council of the 1960's, which led to a near-revolutionary modernization of the church, has brought corrosive excesses. The man is basically a purist to a radical extent, and that seems to be a problem for those demanding that the church refroms. It is no secret that the Catholic church has been losing members over the years because some of their policies are considered, ehh, to be not compatible with modern times (“using condoms is abortion” anyone?) , not to mention the whole covering up the child molestation thing. Even the biggest defenders of the catholic church must’ve cringed when they saw that good ole Cardinal Shaw was given the honor of being one of the 9 main cardinals at the Pope’s funeral. It just didn’t look right! Anyway.. The whole thing doesn’t affect me really since I am not catholic, so whether or not Ratzinger( BTW, does anyone else thinks he looks scary?) will be an extremely conservative pope doesn’t bother me much. I was however interested in the pope selection process because they were mentioning that there is a chance that the new pope may be Black or Hispanic. It made me wonder what the worldwide catholic reaction to a Black pope would be: Would the white Catholics be ok with it? Would it be hailed by Black people as a victory for the black race? Would it piss the Hispanics off? Does it matter at all what color the pope is? Some people argue that a black pope would help draw more black people to the Catholic Church. I guess they are trying to offset the fact that more and more white people are joining the Baptist church. Hmm……