Hard Right Turn

So today there was no black smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel. And despite what pundits said, the race between Cardinals was not that wide open if they decided within 2 days. Furthermore, the pundits were doubly wrong that Cardinal Ratzinger's reactionary speech immediately to the Conclave would dim his chances.

Personally, I think this is a bad decision on many levels. Practically, this man is old and tried to retire prior to John Paul II's health declined. Secondly, this guy is German when the majority of the Church is located in South America and the growth in Europe and the US is negative while it grows in South America and Africa. [some have rumored that he has Nazi ties] And Thridly, when lay Catholics are polled, their opinions are far more moderate with regards to birth control, condoms, and abortion than the church, and usually far more in favor of the death penalty and euthinasia than the church as well.

The Catholic church's leadership is sending a big message to lay Catholics that they are frozen in time and don't care where their flock is heading. It is the 21st century, and they are unwilling to face reality. Is it any wonder that church attendance is down?

I guess it could have been worse, they could have chosen Cardinal Bernard Law to be their pope. That man should have been imprisoned in Massachusetts and not in the Sistine Chapel.