Although I will confess that I was kind of hoping for Cardinal Arinze (partly for good reasons--he is orthodox and seems to be a good man with a delightful sense of humor--and partly for bad--the unworthy thought of what fun it would be to see certain Americans squirm, reluctant to criticize his orthodoxy for fear of seeming racist), I am pleased with the choice of Ratzinger. I also like our new Holy Father's choice of name. God bless Pope Benedict XVI!
And may I humbly suggest a motto for this papacy: "The Cafeteria Is Closed."
Okay, so it's not wholly original. I got the idea from Touchstone's blog, here:
http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2005/04/the_cafeteria_i.html
They quote Maureen Down, “For American Catholics—especially women and Democratic pro-choice Catholic pols—the cafeteria is officially closed.” Yeah, if only! The blogger suggests the Ratzinger Fan Club adopt "The Cafeteria Is Closed" as its new slogan, but I think it's too good a line to limit it. I'm envisioning tee-shirts and bumperstickers: "ATTENTION CATHOLICS: THE CAFETERIA IS CLOSED". Maybe I'm being silly, maybe not, but I say we should never underestimate the power of a catchphrase (or tee-shirt) to change attitudes. Wasn't that the message of Forrest Gump? Okay, maybe that message was "never underestimate the power of one person to affect things", but my point, such as it is, stands.
Not that the new pope needs my help to come up with a motto or a message for his papacy. The quotes I've seen from the homily he preached right before the conclave began are awesome and I think their message of opposition to relativism, combined with the calls to peace with other Christians that he supposedly talked about at his first homily as pope, make a great message. Heck, the first part alone makes a great message. Not that this papacy or any other needs a motto or any message other than the Gospel; I'm just glad to hear any world figure denouncing relativism. Long Live BXVI.
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