"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Monday, February 25, 2013

On the Pope Speculation

Archbishop Charles Caput of Philadelphia, as always, offers wisdom to offset the silliness of American popular culture's view of Catholicism and the selection of the next Pope:
Who will be the next Pope?  Nobody knows, and while speculating about the future can be a pleasant form of entertainment, it’s also fruitless.  Pundits don’t vote.  Special interest lobbying in the media has little or no effect.  Catholic teaching develops over time, but it doesn’t fundamentally change; and Catholic life, in the end, is ordered to truth, not consensus or polling.... 

What that means is this:  A great many critics of the Church should plan to be disappointed (again) by whomever the conclave chooses.  And yet, anyone who sincerely and unselfishly seeks God will continue to find a welcome in the Catholic Church, no matter who bears the title of Pope.

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