Thursday, April 07, 2005

And so the Catholic Church commentary begins, just like Terry Schiavo, the death of a person has become bigger and representative of larger things than the individual involved. Terry Schiavo wasn’t a dying patient but a rubber band in the culture of life debate. In the same vein, we have barely heard anything about Pope John Paul II and his life and achievements, but more questions on the future of the church. The pope actually had a very interesting life as a priest in Poland and helped form a basis for revolution in that country. He wasn’t just a moral leader to many but he was a revolutionary to an entire country and region. But, the questions are appropriate in this case, because the next pope will have many issues to deal with, and will be central to the larger debate. It’s pretty exciting to read the talk of who is expected next. There’s a Honduran cardinal being considered, a Brazilian archbishop, a Milanese archbishop, and a Nigerian cardinal. People like to point out race and geography because they think the church is going to base most of their decision on the booming adoption of Catholicism in Latin America, Africa and Asia, or how the color of the next guy’s face is going to get more Catholics. But, I don’t think they will consider it much, if at all. Their chief concern is going to be someone who will continue to centralize the church like John Paul did and someone who sticks to church teaching, whatever they look like. Probably no one knew that John Paul was going to be selected in ’79, and the same will be true this time around.