Habemos papam

Or at least the Catholic Church does. I'm not bothered by his (age 14) membership in the Hitler Youth. I'm not very happy about his previous job as head of the Holy Inquisition - OK, they changed the name a few decades ago, but not the job description, though to be fair, I'm not aware of any Auto da Fe during his term. I didn't like it when he denounced the reports of priestly pedophlia as a "plot against the Church."

What really bothers me is his idea that the Church has a monopoly on truth. To me, that's one of the most sinister aspects of the totalitarian mind set. All the garbage about moral relativism and blah de blah is just a way of saying "leave the thinking to us."

We shall see, I suppose. Maybe we will wind up greatful that we "have a friend like Ben"(edict XVI).
Ben, the two of us need look no more
We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
I’ll never be alone
And you my friend will see
You’ve got a friend in me
(you’ve got a friend in me)
Oddly enough, Michael Jackson's friend in that song is a rat.

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