A Solution to More than One Problem

In today's Times, Dorothy Samuels quite properly savages Associate Justice Antonin Scalia,  for his vile remarks on gay marriage, but mentioning his equally vile remarks terming the Voting Rights Act a "perpetuation of racial entitlement." Apparently we've got a Supreme Court Justice whose memory is so short that he doesn't remember a time when black people were actively kept from the polls, and by less subtle methods than the underprovision of voting machines.

But I had a thought I wish I'd had a month ago, about a way to get Scalia off the court and into what might be the only job he'd resign from the court to take. Don't you think he would have made an excellent replacement for Pope Benedict 666, er, XVI?

For the Papal Scorecard

Catholic News photograph

Wikipedia has a handy sortable list of living cardinals. The rules are that cardinals over age 80 cannot participate in the upcoming Papal conclave, which knocks out a large number of these guys, though I am also reading that a maximum of 120 can vote in any papal election. Only five members of the College are under 60; I'm counting 118 eligible cardinals out of 209 living cardinals.

But Seriously....

....since the election of John Paul II in 1978, the College of Cardinals has been packed with conservatives. Don't expect any surprises in the upcoming election, like a comparatively liberal Pope who might support American nuns rather than trying to suppress them on fake doctrinal grounds, or who might seriously pursue those within the Church, like Roger Mahony and Bernard Law, who protected child abusers instead of sending them to jail in disgrace.

Pope Resigns; Wave of Poisonings Sweeps College of Cardinals

"We thought we had years to prepare for this," says one Vatican insider who insisted on anonymity.

I'm Shocked, Shocked

• Top Tabloid Editors Endorsed Hacking, Letter Says
• Bishop in Missouri Waited Months to Report Priest, Stirring Parishioners' Rage
• Rick Perry Has Some Crazy Views (The real headline: Perry Links Federal Reserve Policies and Treason. I note that Ben Bernanke, the target, was a Bush appointee.)
• Catholic Clergy Protests Pope's Visit, and its Price Tag (A cool $72 million, and those radical protesters are in Spain)

Still Not Getting It

Amazing NY Times article today: it's Good Friday, and the Pope's own priest, Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, likens current criticism of the Pope and the Church over child abuse (mostly, but not exclusively, sexual) to the persecution of the Jews.

Let's try this again: the preacher of the papal household - that's Rev. Cantalamessa's title - equated criticism of the Church for criminal acts committed by its priests to the persecution of a religious group that saw some 6 million of its members murdered in a short period during the last century.

Let's try once more: criticism is being equated with murder.

And once more again: criticism of the church hierarchy for very specific acts is being equated with systematic persecution of a whole people.

I don't see the tumbrils coming for the Pope and the College of Cardinals. I don't see any gas chambers waiting for them. Here's the worst I've seen:

• Criticism of the cover-ups
• Criticism of the church's preference for transferring priests known to be abusers over, say, reporting criminal acts to the authorities
• Criticism of denial that anything abusive was going on
• Criticism of various pronouncements by the Pope and other Catholic clergy

Criticism isn't the same as murder. No institution is immune to criticism, and given the 60-year history of cover-ups, more than a little criticism is in order. The Catholic hierarchy concealed criminal acts against children by individuals under its supervision; sexual abuse by priests and, from what I've read, various kind of emotional and physical abuse by nuns and priests, especially in Ireland.

What we're seeing now is more of what we've been seeing: the Catholic hierarchy is protecting its own, rather than repenting, contemplating sin and redemption, and seeking healing for the victims of these crimes. At the same time that the Vatican backpedaled mighty fast about Rev. Cantalamessa's speech, saying "it's his personal opinion," it published his sermon in the official Vatican newspaper.

Guys, you don't just get it. You might try listening to what the chief rabbi of Rome had to say:

Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome, who was host to Benedict at the Rome synagogue in January on a visit that helped calm waters after a year of tensions, laughed in seeming disbelief when asked about Father Cantalamessa’s remarks.

“With a minimum of irony, I will say that today is Good Friday, when they pray that the Lord illuminate our hearts so we recognize Jesus,” Rabbi Di Segni said, referring to a prayer in the traditional Catholic liturgy calling for the conversion of the Jews. “We also pray that the Lord illuminate theirs.”

One Reason to Become a Catholic Priest

Today the Times has an article containing a big smoking gun pointed directly at Pope Benedict and his knowledge of a child-molesting German priest. There was another, earlier in the week, about an American priest who molested hundreds of Deaf boys in the midwest over a period from the 1950s through the 1980s; it seems likely that then-Cardinal Ratzinger had personal knowledge of this.

But what caught my eye was the photo in today's Times. Look at how the Pope and the other cleric in the photo are dressed. Benedict is in white robes with that extremely fancy red-with-gold brocade cope over it. (I think it's a cope, but I'm doing research, you bet.)

And look at the other cleric, who isn't identified in the photo: black robe with hot pink trim, belt (it must have a real name...) and yarmulke. Okay, he probably thinks of it as a skullcap. Plus, that little capelike thing on his shoulders.

You won't catch them calling their robes "dresses," but, honestly, that's what they are. Dresses for men. As Patrick once remarked to me, certain religious clothes, including priestly vestments and nuns' habits, are among the few remaining vestiges of medieval clothing in the Western world. (Another? Academic robes. It's a joy to watch a graduation parade, with its riot of robes, caps, and draperies.) I mean, in modern Europe and North American grown men do not get to run around in dresses unless they're priests, you know? And the mock nuns' habits of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence aren't that far off what nuns have worn in various times and places.

And I'll take that black and hot pink outfit for $100, Monty. Those colors suit me very well.