Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Cry "habemus," and let slip the dogs of news!

It's Ratzinger. I was hoping it wouldn't be, because the media will shred him.

Look at it this way. The mainstream media, which tend to disapprove of orthodox leadership in the Catholic Church, knew that the next pope would be a conservative. But if it turned out to be an African or a Latin American, they would have to soft-pedal the personal attacks, because it's not PC to malign a non-European.

Ratzinger, however, is tailor-made for the role of media's most-hated. He's German, and already the Times in England has a smearfest about his having been a Hitler Youth. He's currently (well, he was as of a few hours ago) the head of the Inquisition, which makes it easy to stir up Jewish-Christian trouble. He doesn't have a fraction of the personal charisma that John Paul the Great had, and I very much doubt he's got the diplomatic ability to build bridges within Christendom. And he's well-known in America, so there's not going to be a getting-to-know-you honeymoon period with the media. They'll shred him.

I know the Holy Spirit knows what He's doing better than I do, so I'll try to stop second-guessing Him now. Long live Pope Benedict XVI!

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