Pope Hopes

I haven't thought that much about who might be the next pope (and frankly I kinda dig being popelessly devoted) but I was surprised to read in Peter Daly's National Catholic Reporter column that there is nothing in canon law that requires a pope to first be a cardinal. Since popes are elected by the College of Cardinals  -- and since it seems (in my lifetime, at least) that they always choose one of their own -- I just figured that only a cardinal could be pope. But alas, my presumption was wrong, and I'm loving it. I'm savoring living in this brief popeless moment, dreaming and musing wildly about who it could be: Sister Simone Campbell? Bryan Massingale? Yoda? Stephen Colbert? Vaticat?

James Martin, S.J.

I got to hear the Jesuit James Martin speak at the Religious Education Congress in L.A. this past weekend. (The REC, which was awesome as usual, is an annual gathering of about 40,000 Catholics and sundry other faithful folks who come to experience the wisdom, music, and art of some of the church's best teachers, liturgists, poets, artists, philosophers, and rabblerousers). Martin, in great form, officially announced his candidacy for pope. "Why not?" he quipped. "I'm half-Italian. I speak several languages -- perhaps not all that well, but who does? I'm very organized -- for example, I never walk around looking for my eyeglasses only to discover that they've been on my head the whole time. And I'm very humble. Now: My campaigning for pope may make me seem a tad less humble than you might hope for. But isn't the fact that I'm willing to campaign a sign of my humility? A less humble guy would assume that everyone already knows that he'd be a good candidate and so wouldn't say anything out of his pride. Kind of counterintuitive, huh? Ergo: Since I'm campaigning, I'm tops when it comes to humility." (Check out Martin's blog for a longer list of  reasons why he should be pope). 

I also say amen to much of what Fr. Peter Daly wrote in his column, "A Parish Priest's Hopes for the Next Pope." Here's an excerpt:

 Peter Daly

"I hope we get somebody who has not lived exclusively in the world of chancery offices where people give him deference and obedience all the time. I hope we get someone who has dialogued with evangelicals, Muslims and atheists as equals. It would be nice if he has a few friends who are Protestant clergy and he has come to respect them as intelligent and sincere Christians....

I hope he has a lot of nieces and nephews who have challenged him around the dinner table and in family gatherings. Maybe some of them have married outside the church or have left the church to join other religions. He has attended their weddings only as a family member. Perhaps one of those nieces and nephews has come out to him as gay and he has had to love them still.

I hope he has several strong-willed and outspoken biological sisters who have more than a streak of feminism. Maybe they have told their brother that they use birth control. Maybe they have responsible and substantial careers outside the home where women are the boss....

I hope we get somebody who is in touch with his own humanity. It would be nice if he was a man who admits that he, too, is a sexual being who has struggled with human desires and impulses like everybody else.

I hope we get a man with a sense of humor. It would be nice if he was not too much of a ninny. He might even be able to tell a joke once in a while and laugh at himself.

Vaticat, aka Lorenzo the Cat

I hope we get somebody who puts on his pants one leg at a time. In fact, it would be nice if he would wear pants. Clerics should leave behind the silly affectation of dressing like they are still living in some Renaissance villa or a Baroque painting.

I hope we get a man who knows what it is like to be poor. It would be nice if he has dealt with the homeless and drug addicts and the sick for a few years of his life. It would be good if he has had to struggle like the rest of humanity for his daily bread. It would be nice if he has held a job and had to pay his own bills..."

Make it so, cardinals! 

Click here for the rest of Daly's column.