A man in the arena

What would you suggest your immanence?
 

The entire cynical world may see the election of an Italian pope that way. Those that have faith, a group which I am not a member of, will probably trust the college of cardinals to be guided by the holy spirit and elect the pope that God intended to sit on the Throne of St. Peter. Regardless of his ethnicity.

"An assault on the original definition of the word catholic?" You're probably right. Two thousand years of tradition, papal edicts and, lest we forget, the Will of God be damned, perhaps the catholic church should just get over themselves and institute a racial quota policy. A Spanish pope this year, a Brazilian one the next, and an Algerian pope after that.

A "huge step backwards?" When did you become an audacious progressive?

Not being Catholic, I accept you're not sweating it. You are, however, undoubtedly sweating due to your morbid obesity.
 

Nemesis,

Try reading the article I linked to before blathering on my blog.

The "quota" in this instance is being set by those trying to force an Italian Pope.

I am not an "audacious progressive", I am a reactionary. I believe the Catholic Church should go back to the standards set by Jesus and St. Peter and pick a Jew.
 

In the sense that the next pope is faced with the advance of Islam and the decline of Catholicism, why should the next pope not be Italian?

In the sense that the 'doors will be closed forever' and 'another non-Italian pope would confirm Italy's decline' I think that it's utter garbage. If the conclave were to choose a non-Italian pope, why not in order of percentage of Catholics? Brazil, Mexico, the Phillipines, USA and finally coming in fifth, Italy. What papal succession? You are 5th in line! Wait your turn.
 

There is, of course, no reason why the next Pope should not be Italian. But the NY Times article was about people who demanded that the Pope must to be Italian. Politically I think that is a mistake. But to a true Catholic, it really should not matter.
 

I took the liberty of reading the article, unlike our uneducated friend who likes to add comments at random. I too think that it would be a political blunder if the elected pope was demanded to be Italian.

Let me ask you this: to a 'true' Catholic, do you not think that there is a sense of nationalism involved? In that sense, why shouldn't it matter?
 

Minus,

You are leaping into a realm where I am a stranger. But I was raised in Christian, if not Catholic, fashion.

A christian should ignore nationality. The famous point that Christ made involvig money, saying that we should render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's was a manifestation of this. Origin is irrelevant. Faith is vital.
 

I understand where you are coming from. Your example is in reference to a poll-tax and whether or not it should be given to Caesar or not. "Render to Caesar what are Caesar's, and what are God's to God;"

That is to say: The image of Caesar, which is on the coin, to Caesar, and the image of God, which is on man, to God; so as to render to Caesar indeed money, to God yourself. Otherwise, what will be God's, if all things are Caesar's?

This, of course, being borrowed from Tertullian's On Idolatry.

In this I also see no sense in denying a sense of pride or nationalism (call me socially conservative), because of the virtue of my surroundings. It would seem that origin is irrelavent, but it is not. From the article I get the main argument as being the demise (or decline) of Italy. That comment is localized. Why not the demise, or decline of Catholicism (which is by no means localized, but in fact, global) in general? Because of the sense of nationalism and the fact that the pope has sat in Rome for some years now, Italian or otherwise. Bring it back home they say. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but no matter the reasoning of the Italian people, the pope still must face the incline of Islam and the decline of Catholicism (in my opinion).

Didn't Nemesis major in Theology for a semester or something like that? Where is he at in all of this?
 

I'd comment, but I think we're all in agreement here. The cardinals should, and probably will, elect the best suited man to the Papacy. Of course ethnicity will play into it, but won't, by any means, be the determing factor. Thats why the group the Times article references is so full of crap. They would like to move ethnic politics to the forefront of the election. Which, again, we all agree is a mistake.

As much as the Italians may loathe to admit it, Catholicism is much bigger than Italy. The Vatican is a sovereign nation for several reasons, one of which is to prevent the Italians from having undue influence in the machinations of the church.

That and they don't need all the hairy women hanging about.