As mentioned on the cover, the Pope ain't got too much longer. I posted, at my blog
http://sftruth.info/ a story that might be of interest to some people.
Time has an article about how the Church chooses a new pope. I thought I would post a little something about the future of the Papacy, with an eye on how it could help the thousands dying everyday of AIDS. Specifically, how the possible Pope candidates would come down on condoms. (ha-ha...You gotta love double entendre.)
Note that I'm merely an interested observer. I'm not Catholic, nor do I have a particularly personal reason for the concern. I'm just hoping that the Catholic Church will get out of the way of progress. My apologies for any offense.
There are many observers commenting on this on the Web. I have pointed out several sites, but throw in more if you know of any.
More on the flip.
It appears that the
Pope was given last rites.
There are five main contenders for the Papacy. (World Peace Herald story here)
1)Ratzinger
Joseph Ratzinger, the oldest candidate at 77, is a possible "temporary caretaker" of the Papacy. He would allow the Church to regroup and determine where the Church is heading. He has watched over Church doctrine for twenty-three years, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Yikes...scary! This is the man, who in 1988, said the use of condoms would facilitate evil.
He noted that allowing condoms to prevent AIDS is "a kind of behavior which would result in at least the facilitation of evil," not merely its toleration.
yeah, stopping the spread of AIDS...real evil.
The World Peace herald says:
To his detractors, Ratzinger is rigid and doctrinaire: to his admirers his firm hand guides the church along true conservative lines.
Who knows, he apparently is the leading contender right now, but that's probably not a good thing. He would most likely block most reform attempts, continuing the Church on its "Condoms are Worse than AIDS path." That ain't right.
The Three Italians
The leading Italian contender is Angelo Comastri, the new archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica. The other two are Dionigi Tettamanzi, archbishop of Milan, and Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice.
2. Comastri:
[Comastri] was the preacher at the 2004 Lenten retreat for the pope and the curia, and he held everyone spellbound, beginning with Dziwisz and Rylko. As the archbishop of Loreto, he met John Paul II on his visit to the Marian shrine in September. The Polish friends of pope Wojtyla favor him as his successor.
He is fairly conservative,as are most of the Italians. Whether he would continue the Church's prepostorous stance on condoms is an unknown.
3) Tettamanzi:
As for Tettamanzi, he might be somewhat of a more Progressive candidate. World Peace Herald:
Tettamanzi's detractors say he comes as close to running for the papacy as he can without breaking the rule against campaigning. A moral theologian, he is said to have provided a lot of the expertise for Pope John Paul's seminal 1998 papal document on bioethics. He has strong conservative credentials, but he has spoken out against mistreatment of immigrants, and in favor of moral restraints on the process of economic globalization. Progressive groups such as the Community of Sant'Egidio like him: he has backed the Sant'Egidio initiatives on ecumenical and
inter-religious dialogue. Which is possibly why observers say his support from the arch-traditionalist Opus Dei movement -- which has gained considerable influence in the Vatican during this papacy -- was once strong, but now seems to have waned.
I'm not sure if it's a good thing that he ever had support from Opus Dei. However, the LA Times notes: "And Italian Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, often mentioned as a possible candidate to become pope, has for years tolerated the fact that priests in his home parish of Genoa distribute condoms to prostitutes (even though he has spoken and written against using condoms)."
So I guess you would say that's as reasonable as the Catholic Church gets these days.
4) Scola:
"Scola is the first adherent of the Comunione e Liberazione movement to become a cardinal. He too is a member of the Communio school, associated in the United States with intellectuals such as David Schindler of the John Paul II Institute in Washington. His particular interest is bioethics and the "culture of life," so one could expect a Scola papacy to be energetic in defense of traditional church teaching on these issues." http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word030504.htm
Need I say more? "Culture of Life" is a buzzword we all recognize these days. And it ain't about saving lives in Africa.
The Outsider
5) The Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio, is another leading non Italian candidate.
If the Italian candidates cancel each other out, a possible alternative would be the Argentine Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 69-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires, a man who combines intense spirituality and authoritative strength. His election would be ironic because Bergoglio is known to dislike of the pomp and circumstance of the Vatican, and visits Rome as infrequently as possible. At home, his simple life-style is legendary, often riding the bus from the modest apartment where he lives (and cooks his own meals) to his office in the center of the
city. http://www.italystl.com/ra/1986.htm
He also has experience working with other religions, "It was one of the worst anti-Jewish attacks ever in Latin America, and Ehrenkranz said that Bergoglio was "very concerned with what happened ... he's got experience."
I wasn't able to find anything about Bergoglio and AIDS...does anybody know anything?
Summary:
There are tons of stories out there, and ultimately, all that really matters is how the cardinals feel about the papacy. All we can hope is that they elect somebody who can moderate the Church and help save lives in the developing world.