Papal Choices

North Western Winds provides a pretty good summary from George Weigel of the issues that Cardinals will probably be considering when they vote on the next Pope:

"The first of these is the virtual collapse of Christianity in its historic heartland — western Europe."

"The second great issue is the Church’s response to the multi-faceted challenge posed by the rise of militant Islam."

"The third involves the questions posed by the biotech revolution."

"Questions of the Church’s intellectual discipline will also be discussed..."

"The 'foreign policy' of the Holy See [as it has been practised] for more than two generations"

Reading the piece in question I'm understanding the "foreign policy" of the Holy See to mean the Church's approach to the European Union. As to the "Church's intellectual discipline" I'm reading that to mean that they want to make sure the Church presents a clearer argument for Christianity in intellectual terms in the modern age.

Makes you wonder who exactly the next Pope will be. With a lot of Cardinals I don't think we don't know their views on many of these issues. And despite the naysayers, I have complete trust in the process of the Conclave and I know that the right Pope will be selected. The process has been perfected over 2000 years - this isn't something that was started yesterday.

Regardless of what the media is saying there are really two wings in the Catholic church. There is a Reformist wing, the one the media exclusively talks about, that believes in the ordination of women, is pro-abortion, pro-contraceptives, and the more extremists question the physical resurrection of Christ and prefer a "spiritual resurrection" as a substitute.

But there is also a traditionalist wing, who's more extremist elements believe literally that they're more Catholic than the Pope. The Society of St. Pius X, for example (I'm pretty sure) rejects Vatican II and is in schism with the Vatican. They only celebrate the Latin mass, but it does have a Vatican recognized counterpart:the Society of St. Peter.

The two extremes tug at the church, and really the Holy See is somewhere in between. The media doesn't show any traditionalists critics of JP II only Reformist. Not that I agree with either side but it's pretty obvious that the media has an agenda of it's own.