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I do not think that you have understood the article you link.
The pope has always been elected by a conclave of cardinals. All this article mentions is that there are a few more Americans in the college of cardinals than in the past.
There will still be an election, some out of touch, medieval thinking guy will get the nod, and life will continue on as before.
Who knows I may be wrong in him being the last. I read somewhere there won't be more. That the college of Cardinals will be in charge.
Who knows I may be wrong in him being the last. I read somewhere there won't be more. That the college of Cardinals will be in charge.
I believe that there are a bunch of nutty end time prophecies related to the ending of the line of popes. We could always speculate on the power politics of the Catholic Church, and wonder if Benedict/ratzinger is being forced out because of the various scandals.
But the church is so incredibly conservative that I cannot imagine any serious change. After all, the pope is the only guy who gets to nominate cardinals, and although there is no rule specifying it, only cardinals get to e elected pope.
So you have a small club of self selected people choosing one of their own, who will in turn select other like minded individuals to continue the clique.
Still I will admit I didn't feel as warm to this Pope as the previous, but the previous was the Pope for pretty much my whole life previous. (I think John Paul II came in when I was one-to-two years old) That said I do think he felt a bit less comfortable with the public eye and I could see that he maybe came off too academic. I'm a little shocked by this though, but people live much longer now so maybe he didn't want to end up like John Paul II did near the end.
Yeah...it figures the usual suspects come out to talk smack and defame the man.
Since you are all so into "objective proof"...what "objective proof" do you have that he is "evil"?
That the lot of you slander the man says nothing about the kind of person he is...but speaks volumes about what kind of people you are!
There were/are/is some bad people in the organization...like you're not gonna have some bad apples when you are working with those kind of numbers.
I believe the OP needs to show a little more respect to those who see this man as a great leader. Suggesting that he is a "Pedophile" or "Jerry Sandusky" is disrespectful.
It's obvious that he's frail and in poor health, something none of us may see. I personally believe that he'll be done before summer comes. God Bless the Pope.
I would like to see the next pope revolutionize catholicism. I'm not a fan of denominations and sects, but the protestant movement was a valid one because there was a lot of wrong teaching in the Church. I'm not protestant nor any other denomination, I'm just a Christian. I want the next pope to be just a Christian. (By that I mean I want the next pope to lay off all the added traditions of men, and to treat our faith as something real, and not a grasping for air concept)
The same could be said of any very old and very large worldwide organization. Any government, Any Military, Any commercial enterprise, etc. have "dirty deed issues".
If held to the same standard you are holding this organization and it's leader...you'd have to label them all "evil".
The U.S. government is corrupt in many, many ways...and there are lots of cover-ups, to be sure. Would you say the same about our current POTUS, that you are saying about the current Pope, if the Pres. were to leave office?
This is the defense you want to present? That other organizations do bad things too, so in comparison the RCC is not so bad?
What happened to the church being a special representation of god in this world? Are you saying that the representatives of the church are just as fallible as any other human being? That they hold no special knowledge or morality?
Even putting that aside, I will state that the RCC's violations are worse than most, and of a different kind. The entire organization is complicit in the sexual abuse scandal, to the level of shielding cardinals (Cardinal Law) from justice. The mafia worked similarly, taking care of its own with complete disregard for the well being of others.
I don't see what the article has to do with what you wrote.
"Pope Benedict was the final Pope. Now the Catholics practice will pick a college of cardinals. A group of popes who will share papal duties."
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