CSotD: You’d better free your mind instead (or besides)
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A few weeks ago, I featured some papal cartoons and observed that the new pope was going to be elected by the same people who had elected the old pope (yes, yes, under the guidance of God, but the same God who had guided the election of the old pope.)
And further that this isn't a moment for Kate Middleton coverage, that it wasn't in the category of stories where people can speculate endlessly about someone whose main job in life is to give them something to endlessly speculate about, a point Stuart Carlson makes in the above cartoon: The only thing worse than stupid coverage is stupid, incompetent coverage.
Ted Baxter is alive and well.
It's not quite as bad as I thought it would be. They may refuse to call Kate Middleton "The Duchess of Cornwall" or even "Mrs. Windsor," but, by yompin' yiminey, they've figured out that this fellow's new name is "Pope Francis" and no longer "Cardinal Jorge Begoglio."
Well, some are calling him "Pope Francis I," which is kind of like referring to your current-and-only spouse as "my first wife" which I've only heard people do as a joke, but never mind.
Of more interest to me — and, having gotten off the bus a couple of popes ago, my interest is mostly curiosity — is how his election is being treated beyond the silly speculation of the blow-dry brigade.
Granted that, to some extent, it's hard to separate media speculation from "other" speculation.
I like Joe Heller's cartoon because it simply indicates a hope for change without suggesting that there will actually be change.
And there will, apparently, be some change in pushing forward a more active view of humility on the part of the pope.
But John Paul II used to kiss the ground at the airports he visited, and he was seen skiing and he wrote poetry and he was warm and kind to the little kids in ethnic costumes who presented him with flowers when he visited.
However, if you were divorced, or gay, or poor enough that having three more children did not seem wise, or facing a pregnancy that could end your life, his kissing of tarmac didn't make a lot of difference in your life.
You say you want a revolution? Well, we all want to change the world.
But we'd also all love to see the plan, and, regardless of the extent to which the new pope rejects the pomps and glories of the Vatican, I don't anticipate that it will come to this:
"There are those who believe that it is necessary for ideas to triumph among the masses before initiating action, and there are others who understand that action is one of the most efficient instruments for bringing about the triumph of ideas among the masses.
"Whoever hesitates while waiting for ideas to triumph among the greater part of the masses before initiating revolutionary action will never be a revolutionary. For, what is the difference between such a revolutionary and a rich landowner, a wealthy bourgeois? None whatsoever!
"Humanity will, of course, change; human society will, of course, continue to develop — in spite of men and the errors of men. But that is not a revolutionary attitude."
You shouldn't expect the words of Fidel Castro to start ringing through the Vatican, whether Francis rides in the Popemobile or walks among the tourists or rides a donkey while they strew palms in his path.
Meanwhile, people want to know who this new fellow is, and they want to know more than whether he likes the Popemobile:
Jeff Danziger suggests that reasonable questions are being treated as if they were unreasonable.
While I don't know how this reflects the actual pope's actual attitude towards those inquiries, I've already seen conservative Catholics railing against anyone having the nerve to ask what happened during those years in Argentina, as if it were disloyal, unfair and even bigoted to want to know.
One thing about the original Good Shepherd was that he didn't dodge questions and, in fact, he answered even the ones he felt were annoying and that were only being asked in a "gotcha" context.
But it's not "gotcha" to ask how a person in authority dealt with a crisis like the one in Argentina.
Particularly when one of the few issues that the Church really does have to address is not gay marriage or the place of women, but a system in which child molestation was rampant, while people in power pretended not to know what was going on under their very noses, and in which "trust Father" was permitted to trump "listen to the children."
At which point, "what did you know and when did you know it and what did you do about it?" is not simply a valid question but a critical one.
Meanwhile, Steve Kelley's cartoon demonstrates an attitude among conservative Roman Catholics who want the clout of being part of a church with 1 billion members, but who would deny membership to those who don't embrace the correct positions and attitudes.
I'm sure he's found some survey for that $369 figure, but it's not only a cheap shot, but one I don't find particularly compelling: I've been in church, and I've heard the clink of coins in the basket. If he's got evidence that the majority of compliant Catholics are tithing, well, show me the money.
Beyond that, he may be right. I recognize that the Church is not required to operate like a fast-food franchise, altering its menu in order to attract and retain customers.
In fact, I like the term "Cafeteria Catholics" to describe those who do not accept the authority of the pope or the Vatican, and who feel they can be part of the Church without embracing its doctrines on some basic values, like birth control specifically and sexuality in general.
But then, I've always been an "on the bus or off the bus" kind of person.
"Obedience" remains a prominent factor within the Church and, if Francis
does intend to bring a spirit of humility to things, and if his
experience under a military dictatorship has informed his understanding
of "obedience," then perhaps we will see an effort on his part to bring back home the sheep who are in the
fold, as well as those who have wandered away.
And that would, indeed, be a revolutionary attitude.
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