The Close Of A Papacy

[poliphilo]

What makes a man aspire to be an Inquisitor?

Because that's what Benedict used to be. They'd changed the name of the institution- for obvious, cosmetic reasons- but it was still The Holy Inquisition in every other respect.  John Paul got the plaudits for being so modern and manly and fond of the common people- and little Cardinal Ratzinger- ever in his shadow- got the hisses (muted for you wouldn't want him to hear you) as his fixer, his hit-man- his closer-down of dissent and scourge of heretics. Also his protector of the Church's reputation- which meant keeping clerical sex-abusers away from the media and the police.  It's hard (at least I find it hard) to think well of such a man.

And yet the testimony is he's a kindly chap. Look at those panda eyes of his; that shy smile. Lovable, no? And apparently he shares Blofeld's fondness for cats.

Benedict got to be Pope at a bad time (for the Church if not for the World). The crimes it had been his business to cover up were getting themselves uncovered- here, there, everywhere- and now it was his business to be penitent, humble, open. The great event of his pontificate was the child abuse scandal. It's too early to say whether he handled it well or not. And nobody knows what horrors are still to come.

Have you ever seen speeded-up film of a decomposing carcase- how it seems to contort and fling itself about as it bloats and farts and falls to pieces? That's the image that comes to mind when I think of the Vatican.  One story has it that a gang of brothel-creeping cardinals is being blackmailed by the mafia into laundering dirty money through the Vatican Bank. It could well be true. Actually, I'd be surprised if it wasn't.

Is Benedict a hapless innocent in all of this? Probably. I don't think he quit because he's guilty but because he was overwhelmed. He's an old man. I give him respect for not burdening the Church with his senescence.

So now they'll be electing another old man to do the job.  Good luck to him.

Poor bastard.

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

The crimes it had been his business to cover up were getting themselves uncovered- here, there, everywhere- and now it was his business to be penitent, humble, open.

This is the context which makes his remark about God seeming to be asleep so infuriating - the suggestion that it is not the Church which has not been doing its job, but God...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

They tried a genuinely holy escetic with Celestine V (the last Pope to retire) in the 14th century and that didn't work either...............

Maybe the job needs someone like Alexander Borgia? :oS

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

According to the Prophecy of St Malachy the next pope will be the last. :)

[w. lotus (from livejournal.com)]

What makes you think he is innocent? I assume he knows more and was far more deeply involved than anyone outside of the Vatican thinks, simply by virtue of the fact that he won the old boys' popularity contest to become pope.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. I believe he was instrumental in covering up evidence of abuse but I've seen nothing to suggest he was guilty of abuse himself.