I’m not Catholic. In fact, I am about as far away from Catholic as it is possible for a human being to be. So, it’s really none of my business who they choose as Pope or why he chooses to name himself after a talking mule. Still, it’s the news of the day and, therefore, one can’t help but have opinions on it.
Now, it’s his cross to bear
1. The Nostradamus prophecy that the this pope will be the last pope. The amazing thing about Nostradamus is that he was never right about anything even though his prophecies were written so vaguely that they are absolutely worthless to start with.
I read Tarot cards for fun and mostly just make stuff up as I go along and I expect I’ve got a better track record than Nostradamus. So, that’s nonsense.
2. An Argentinian pope. That’s interesting. This is the 1st non-European ever and the 3rd non-Italian in a row so the old tradition of Italian popes only which lasted for centuries is pretty definitely dead, over and forgotten. Also, I guess it’s fair that South America got one because the whole damned continent is Catholic, and it’s the only continent that’s like that.
I would have liked to have seen an African pope, just to watch Mel Gibson totally freak out but, from all I’ve heard, the African front-runner was even more fanatically homophobic than most so maybe it’s just as well.
3. Homophobia. Oh, yeah, this pope’s got it. Also, he’s a big anti-abortion and anti-contraception hardass, but that’s not surprising, on account of those things are a big part of the Catholic religion. There was no expectation that anybody of a liberalizing bent would be chosen.
4. Pedophilia. Oh, I expect he’ll make the right noises and condemn it and stuff, but I doubt he’ll really do much about it. They’d run out of priests.
5. What I find most disturbing is his role (unproven, but pretty widely suspected) that he co-operated with the Argentinian government in the kidnapping and torture of two liberal priests in 1976.
6. He is not a young man. Mid 70s. And he’s stepping into this huge job at a really stressful time in Catholic history. Maybe I’ll go to hell for saying this, but I’ll bet he doesn’t live long.
I don’t wish him ill, I’m just speculating. Whatever he does is between him and the Catholics. I wish him a long and happy term of office. Good luck, Francis.
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