Shit

[catscradle]

They picked Ratzinger? RATZINGER??? The uber conservative 77 year old ailing bigot from Germany? *looks at news again* Are they all just hoping for another all expense paid vacation to Rome again when they're back in a year to elect a new Pope? An annual thing, maybe?

Ah, Christ. For all the problems with John Paul II, I could still like the guy at the end of the day. But Ratzinger?

So it's to be Benedict XVI.

*sighs*

Comments

[wiebke.livejournal.com]

As soon as I get home I'm going to pull out my copy of Queer in America and remind myself of all the lovely things Ratzinger did in the 80s and 90s to endear himself to gay people and people with AIDS.

[zafiro-v.livejournal.com]

WHAT??!! (deep sigh)

[alighiera.livejournal.com]

They're reasoning that they need a stabilizer for a few years who won't get up to anything unexpected. It was fairly clear from the start it was going to be one of the old guys. The next one is going to be more interesting again - I'm hoping for a Latin American, personally, although I strongly suspect it's going to be an Italian again.

You should see German TV right now. They're going crazy - understandably so - and everybody seems to forget that Ratzinger makes normal conservatives look totally liberal. They are interviewing people in Bavaria, where Ratzinger is from, and the general chorus is that they're hoping he will be modern, support the role of women in church and that he will make contraception more acceptable for Catholics.

Seems the Germans forget pretty quickly that he's the very guy who preached against contraception all his life...

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

I knew it'd be one of the old ones, but I was REALLY hoping it wouldn't be him. Of all the contenders he was at the WAY bottom of the list. There were two other German potentials that looked rather hopeful, I'd have been happy with either of them. But Ratzinger... *CRINGE*

[alighiera.livejournal.com]

Well, he's likely to die soon. I'm going to be pragmatic and keep that in mind for comfort.

I was hoping it would be Schönborn. He was listed under the most likely candidates, but with only 60 years he was too young. But he's modern and fairly liberal for a cardinal, so perhaps next round...

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Schönborn was one I was looking at. Unfortunately they didn't tell us much about his philosophy other than he's young and has a long background of high ranking priests in his family.

As you say, maybe next time...

[alighiera.livejournal.com]

Schönborn has been Archbishop of Vienna for a while now, and he is a very diplomatic cardinal. He's done a lot of work when it comes to cooperation with other religions, especially orthodox christians and muslims. As for family... old Austrian nobility, so he's got lots of connections.

He's only sixty, he'll be available for another twenty years.

[battlemistress.livejournal.com]

So.... I guess you heard. Well, proved 'em all wrong. he's not black.

Like you say - let's make it a yearly event! Better than the president.

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Word was that it'd be WAY to much change all at once. I'm thinking WHAT change? The Nigerian potential was as hardline as they came. He was like the Alan Keyes of the Catholic world. Okay, maybe he wouldn't dive into a mosh pit, but you know what I mean.

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at the bright side: now young people might finally get fed up with all those stupid doctrines and give up on religion altogether! :)

Although if you're a Catholic, I understand your cringing.

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

I'm not all for giving up on religion. I do see its place in the world. What I would like to see is the doctrine catching up with the times, as right now it's so dysfunctional it's doing more damage than good.

On a side note there's a lot of evidence that in light of mainstream religions' inability to appeal to the needs of the people, there's a streamline into the evangelical and fundamentalists religions. Mainstream religions need to find a better way to make people part of the religion, rather than passive participants. People need to have a greater sense of community; to feel important and loved. Otherwise, they leave and get it where they can and in many cases that's a fundamentalist group. Content is secondary to building a sense of religious community - but once the content is slammed in, it can become either a destructive or beneficial force.

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

People need to have a greater sense of community; to feel important and loved. Otherwise, they leave and get it where they can and in many cases that's a fundamentalist group.

Hm, I see what you're saying. Interesting. I never thought of that possibility. My idea was that, once you've decided to leave a religious group because you've realized there's not only one "truth", you don't go around looking for another religious group! The sense of belonging can be found in other, non-religious, groups as well. But I had never considered the possibility of people leaving a religion not because they've realized its dogmatic hiccups but because they didn't feel important and loved. It never occured to me that there may be another kind of "believer" (one who's looking for acceptance rather than for religious "truth") than the traditional one (the one who's been taught that that's the only truth and it never occurs to him to doubt that, active participant or not).

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, most people aren't as enlightened. At least not according to statistics. Most move from one religion to the next. The term they use for it is The Spiritual Market or Shopping Mall. The thing is, many people will claim what they want is religious truth, but when they list the reasons to picking on religion over another it usually ammounts to a dissatisfaction with their previous religion and feeling more accepted and part of a community in the religion they move to. But once they become part of the community, the beliefs take root and become the focus.

Yeah, you can find community and importance in a secular setting, but many people tend to feel a loss or disconnect with the spiritual. I suppose that's why you find a substantial migration from agnosticism to something like the Unitarian Universalists churches - which reject the idea of one true doctrine while still embracing a spiritual center. But many people are looking for something with more ritual in a much more structured system. This is why there is a massive streamline into fundamentalists religions. Add to it a sense of urgency like - heh - the second coming and the end of the world, and it becomes VERY popular. Suddenly you're a part of something that is very meaningful and relevant. In addition to finding a community with ritual and structure, YOU can save a soul! You have meaning and a mission. It's very seductive.