Pope Francis

This week a new Pope was elected, the first since I've started writing this blog, so I thought I'd toss my two cents in. I'm not a Catholic--I'm an atheist--so who the Pope is doesn't matter a fiddler's fart to me, but, and I think many non-Catholics can say this, the whole thing is fascinating.

Catholics, perhaps even more than other religions, love ritual, and perhaps there are no more theatrical rituals than those that surround the conclave that elects a new Pope. I mean, white smoke and black smoke? Whoever thought that up was a marketing genius. And the idea that 100 and something men go in there, knowing one of them is about to attain the kind of power that the rest of us can not even imagine, is really dramatic.

The winner was Jorge Bergoglio, the first Pope from the Western and Southern hemispheres, and the first Jesuit (the meaning of this eludes me, but it seems significant). He is 76, and not from the Curia (the inner working of the Vatican), both of which took by surprise those who thought the cardinals would go with a younger man and a bureaucrat. He took the name Francis, which many commented was unusual, given that it was a first. Two thousand years of Popes, and you'd think they'd be running out of names, but no, Francis was never taken. I heard an explanation of this that St. Francis of Assisi is such a big name that no one dared to use it again (sort of like there will probably never be a Peter II). The Pope said he used this name because of St. Francis' devotion to the poor, and also because he was known as a restorer of the church.

This is said to indicate the man's humility, but is it that humble to take a name that already has such a legacy? It would be like a politician changing his name to Abraham Lincoln. But that brings up a question--the Pope announced his name immediately, which indicates not much time for deliberation. Does every cardinal have a name secretly picked out, like you'd think about the names for your kids or pets? If we could use truth serum, could we get say, Cardinal Dolan to admit what he would use as his name?

Of course, this Pope offers nothing new in the philosophical department. He was supposedly a choice that prevented a Cardinal Scola, the favorite of reformers, from being chosen. But what does reform mean? Being an advocate of gay rights, woman as priests, and contraception is not going to get you high up the ladder in this organization. There are priests like this, and they usually are in trouble, not likely to get a promotion. These issues, plus the problem of sexual molestation, have kept the church in the dark ages, which has wreaked havoc on membership in the U.S. How many men are going to give up love and marriage to serve as a priest? That's why the profession attracts the sexually aberrant, in my opinion. The first thing that should be done to fix the Church is to allow priests to forgo that celibacy thing.

But they won't listen to me. By the way, if I became Pope, I'd choose the name Ringo. We've had Popes John and Paul, and a St. George, why should Ringo get left out?