I’m watching TV right now and what I’m seeing is an endless string of debates amongst and interviews by and to catholics. It would have been interesting if they had invited an atheist, for a change.
Anyway, all those catholics seem to be very happy about the choice of Joseph Ratzinger as the new pope. I wonder what do they have to be glad of. Most of them are much more “liberal” than even John Paul II was, especially regarding sexual morals. I’ll bet that when their daughters are going out with their boyfriends, they will certainly teach them about the proper usage of condoms and contraceptives.
They do not seem to realize how brutally reactionary the new pope is. One who seems to get it very well is Andrew Sullivan:
His views on the subordinate role of women in the Church and society, the marginalization of homosexuals (he once argued that violence against them was predictable if they kept pushing for rights), the impermissibility of any sexual act that does not involve the depositing of semen in a fertile uterus, and the inadmissability of any open discourse with other faiths reveal him as even more hardline than the previous pope.
One of the few smart observations I heard tonight was expressed by journalist Antonio Socci. Ratzinger chose Benedict XVI as his name in memory of St. Benedict, who kept alive Christianity in the Middle Age, against barbarians. The new barbarians, in Ratzinger’s view, are liberals and relativists, and a new St. Benedict is probably needed to fend them off.
Oh well, why do I care? It’s those catholics who will have to come to terms with the clash between their doctrine and their true beliefs and behavior, not me.
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