We've all heard the one-liner reference above. You know. It's used in the same tone as the infamous "Does a bear s**t in the woods?" in answer to a question where the answer is an obvious "yes." However, based on the coverage of the Media Spin Machine, one might almost wonder.
Have you heard any of the coverage at all? The MSM is making it sound like there's going to be a huge surprise ending in the election of the new Pope. In fact, that's exactly the problem: they're treating it like an American Presidential election.
In the last few days I've heard stories of bets being taken on who the new Pontiff will be. People are actually putting wagers down on this. Then, the cable TV news outlets are wall-to-wall "papal prognostication" all the time. That's not all, though...there are the polls. I'm not kidding. Opinion polls that American Catholics would like to see a less conservative Pope.
Are they serious? It turns out they are and the MSM is egging them on.
Do people really think that a more liberal pope is going to be elected? We're not talking about a Gubernatorial race here---we're talking about the spiritual leader of one of the world's largest religion--a religion based heavily on tradition, scripture and dogma. The world has changed around the Catholic Church and it has remained the same.
The same.
There's not going to be a sudden change of heart from the Vatican on letting priests marry. There's not going to be a lifting of the ban on women priests in Catholic churches. They're not going to get behind the idea of gay marriage. They're not going to change their stance on abortion. The American media is waiting for the Vatican to come center and...well...there's just nothing in the last five hundred years that should make us believe otherwise.
Here's what will happen though. The Conclave will elect a Pope who is---shock and surprise---Catholic! Then the MSM will state their disappointment at how they elected a more conservative pope and shunned the opportunity for reform. In other words, they'll take the election of someone who will uphold Catholicism and spin it as a negative for the American Catholics. You mark my words and watch---that's exactly what they'll do.
The Pope is not conservative. The Pope is not liberal. The Pope is Catholic. It's that simple. He's not there to advocate social reform within the Church. It's quite the opposite, in fact. The Church tries to advocate social reform outside its walls in the rest of the world. To paint the Pope, and by extension, Catholicism, with American political labels is downright ludicrous.
The cardinals who will be voted on for the Papacy don't need to impress the 1.1 billion Catholics across the globe. They need only impress 2/3--or seventy-seven--of the 115 voting cardinals.
All the conjecture...all of the speculation...all of the predictions mean absolutely nothing. This group of men will do what they've always done---they'll elect the best representative for the Church. Someone who will carry on the traditions, the values and the teachings of the institution.
I'm no Catholic, but it doesn't take a genius to see that it's NOT going to be someone described as liberal in any sense of the word.
Is the Pope Catholic? Yeah...he sure is. He'll continue to be, too.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
