At World Edge: February 2013

Three Lucky Escapes in One Week

Lightning strikes Saint Peter's Basilica the night of the Pope's resignation 11 February

A large meteor strikes a Russian city without loss of life 15 February

Pope Benedict XVI escapes the Papal throne before his predicted assassination or arrest

The first Pope to walk away from his role in 600 years and the first ever to leave for personal reasons. Or are they personal? Has his departure removed the imminent danger and embarrassment of his arrest as Pope in any nation outside the Vatican City by a state that supported charges currently being prepared by champions of the victims of pedophile priests.

Priests who were undoubtedly protected by this Pope while Cardinal Camerlengo and in charge of all accusations brought against such priests since 2001, when he personally took over this responsibility at the behest of the then Pope - John Paul II.

Arrest

A serious attempt was made to arrange for such an arrest during his visit to the United Kingdom in 2010. This threat supported by Geoffrey Robertson QC and Richard Dawkins was taken seriously enough for the British Parliament to make a law for the occasion that would make such a citizen arrest impossible.

There are very ardent activists for this cause of the rights of children over the protection of the perpetrators - whether they be priests, bishops or ordinary citizens. It is unlikely that they have rested since this setback and there is a current rumour that the Vatican was put on notice this week of a new charge against the Pope as the head of an organisation that has not adequately or transparently acquitted its duties to protect minors in their care or deal with clergy who have repeatedly offended against these minors.

A week before the resignation graffiti by activists in a Brisbane street.

photo Frank McBride

Assassination

But an even stranger rumour surfaced in January of 2012 in - of all places China - where the Cardinal of Palermo in Sicily was indiscrete enough to share his belief - no apparently his certainty - that Benedict would be assassinated before twelve months were up.

What would a cardinal of Sicily know about such matters?

What would he not know, when the Sicilian Mafia make up quite a percentage of his rich, powerful and pious flock? Particularly when the pontiff had plans - now put into effect - to replace the dubious Italian managers of the Vatican Bank with a clean cut German.

A bizarre footnote to this tale is that after the cardinal's indiscretion was reported to the Vatican and through more indiscretions to the Italian press, the Cardinal - Paolo Romeo - set a date for his own resignation (curiouser and curiouser) - February 2013.

Two close calls averted by just not being in the chair when the hand grenade or the writ is lobbed in the window.

A Replacement

Now the conclave of cardinals are set to find a new Pope. Rumour has it that they will not convene on the date directed by Benedict. They may hurry into the Sistine Chapel earlier to attempt to fill the papal throne in time for Easter. There is some superstitious unease about having no vicar of Peter in place during the Passion on Good Friday. Who will deny Him thrice if not Peter?

But it will be hard to find someone to sit on a booby trapped throne.

Though not personally implicated in pedophile coverups like Benedict, any new Pope will still be legally responsible for a cleaner and more transparent approach to the problem, and as CEO will have to preside over what may closely approach a dismemberment of the wealth and resources of the Church in an attempt to meet increasingly indefensible compensation claims by victims of abuse across the world.

Of course the new pope will also have to examine their conscience in regard to their own actions regarding this sad crime during their careers as priest, bishop and cardinal before accepting the role. Only a squeaky clean Pope could act without fear or favour in the long overdue cleanup of the clergy.

In September 2010, Benedict canonised Mary MacKillop. This outspoken woman was excommunicated by her bishop when she reported the activities of a pedophile priest.

The new leader will also have to follow up on a good beginning made by this Pope in ending the corruption in the Vatican's financial systems. The Vatican's bank and its other fiscal institutions have been infiltrated by greedy clergy and even greedier laypersons. Some have been agents of the Mafia and some- some who have even been murdered at their posts - have been powerful members of secret Masonic lodges. Too much like Dan Brown? No. Dan Brown has been too much like the Vatican.

The most likely cause of the death of Pope John Paul I was his attempt to clean up the Vatican Bank - whether it caused him to die of poison or distress.

Then what of the theological issues? First a new pope will have to try and discern the difference between theology and church law. He will have to stop double guessing God's opinion on things and be prepared to admit that some things should be allowed to evolve in the world. That the world is not always wrong. That women have rights to improve their position in the world. That they have done just that, with as much help from Mohammad who set down real rights for women in the Koran as from the Church that has refused them even the clerical powers they enjoyed in the time of the apostles and further reduced their legal rights in the middle ages.

He will have to move the church out of people's bedrooms and be prepared to admit that sexual acts that are about power and dominance and even cruelty are something for the community to discourage and deal with wherever they are found. But sexual acts and intimacy that is born of love for one another cannot and should not be prevented, whether it is between a consenting man and woman or between two consenting males or two consenting women or possibly larger numerical combinations. Remembering that the Church claims that God is Love, he should not continue to preside over a church that William Blake described -

I went to the Garden of Love, and saw what I never had seen;
A Chapel was built in the midst, where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut and "Thou shalt not," writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love that so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled with graves, and tombstones where flowers should be;
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, and binding with briars
My joys and desires.

He will have to make one last use of his his dubious infallibility before infallibly denying it. He could infallibly proclaim an end to the exclusivity of the Church. Without doing this all attempts at dialogue with the religions and cultures that potentially enrich our planet will inevitably exacerbate the clashes and smother the glow that can come from these encounters.

He doesn't have to deny the divine inspiration of Christ, but he could admit that other great spiritual leaders were also inspired. That Buddha saw a path out of suffering in the way of compassion. That Mohammad recognised the greatness of the Judaic and Christian messages and wanted to extend that wisdom to his peoples, but not without chiding what he saw as contradictions in the traditions. That Hindus seek to honour and love the divine which they see expressed in divine plurality. No more plural than Christianity's Divine Creator who works through helpers like dominions, powers, archangels and angels - a hierarchy of spiritual beings no less numerous than the gods of India's cosmology, yet strangely forgotten and swept under a rational carpet by the average Christian.

Such a new pope could warmly embrace the rich diversity of faiths and logics that make world more capable of coping with its complex challenges.

The new pope could also be an inspiration for many people, as they attempt the overwhelming task of attempting to solve the problems facing mankind, many of which have been self inflicted. But that is no reason to consider these difficulties as divine retribution preceding some divine solution that usually involves the dissolution of the fabric of creation.
Popes have been too often deniers. Climate change deniers (God will look after things) - Overpopulation deniers ( we have no role in preventing unwanted births) - Human Nature deniers ( no need for condoms. Men should just be celibate ) - Love deniers ( the two men who love each other must never express their love physically)
A new Pope who encourages the people of earth to repair their planet and make everyman their neighbour and love them as themselves will be a pope for all.

The pope who stops leading a Church or aping the rulers of an ancient Empire and starts offering his support by walking alongside all men who are seeking to end suffering, enslavement, corruption and decay will be a real servant of his Christ.

The Papabile

It is difficult to not look at the favourites through the sharp Irish eyes of the great Benedictine abbott who founded the first formal monastery in Ireland. St. Malachy was a little overawed by a visit to Rome and immediately had a vision - a vision of a great parade of Popes from his own days to either the last pope or at least as far as his failing old eyes could see. To show off a little and prove that his vision was accurate, he provided a little ditty or riddle to go with each pope. Very Irish.
In hindsight he seems often right, but there is also a little of the self fulfilling about the prophecies. A great light in the heavens he said of Pius X who was elected during the passage of Haley's comet. He shall come from the Sea he said of John XXIII who was Patriach of Venice. Between the moons he remarked about John Paul I, who only survived as pope between one full moon and the next. And of Benedict he quipped Glory of the Olives a fairly obscure reference to the symbol of the order founded by this pope's namesake.

But now we come to Malachy's last pope Peter the Roman and his reference to the destruction of Rome. Some argue that Malachy actually stopped his list with Benedict because he had run out of vision -or paper - or puff and that the dramatic ending with a Pope called Peter the Roman who presides over the destruction of Rome and the coming of the great Judge was the addition of an editor with a taste for a good ending to all his scripts.

However its easy to slip into the role of a follower of Malachy, especially if you have an Irish grandmother as I do. So I will put on my green cap of Erin and give you a prophesy - or two - or three just to be on the safe side. So -

The new Pope must already have the baptismal name or take the papal name of Peter.

The cardinal who takes the throne must have a connection of some sort with Rome - other than being a Roman Catholic.

Looking through the list of cardinals under 80 years who could be elected we find four Peters and all three have a fair chance and one has unusually strong links with Rome.

Peter Erdo - Cardinal of Budapest Hungary 60

The Roman - He has been a champion of the Roma people of Hungary referred to elsewhere in Europe as the Romany or Gypsy people.

Peter Turkson Cardinal of Ghana 64

The Roman - well he would be if he moved to Rome to be Pope.

Odilo Pedro (Peter) Scherer Archbishop of Sao Paulo Brazil 63

The Roman - Archpriest and Cardinal of Sant-Andrea al Quiranale - a church on a most historic hill in Rome even older and more revered than Mons Capitoline.

This hill was for some centuries the Palace of the Popes and now is topped with the palace of the Italian President.

Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone 79

The only Italian in my list, he is the powerful Cardinal Secretary of State and Camerlengo of the Vatican holding the same position that Benedict held as Cardinal. Despite his age he is still a favourite because he knows all the secrets , scandals and corruptions - may well control some of them and may be the only one who could - with the ongoing support of the ex-pope in the attic - save the church from its current self-destruct mode by continuing the deny and blame tradition (Evasio by name evasio by nature). God forbid. This outcome would prove that the Church hierarchy have really lost it. But as they say "Isn't the Pope a Catholic and aren't the Kennedys gun-shy?"

The Roman - Yes unfortunately, as he was born in Romano near Turin, he would follow the Italian tradition of being called in his youth by his short name Pietro (Peter) and like Leonardo Da Vinci ( Leonardo from the town of Vinci) be called Pietro Romano -

Peter the Roman.

Outside Insiders

Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne 70

Cardinal Archbishop of Lima Peru and one of the two Opus Dei Cardinals in the world. The other is no longer papabile on account of age. Violently conservative - anti gay, anti women and anti human rights, he is remembered for attacking people who accused the Peruvian Army of being responsible for a notorious massacre. He called the accusers guilty of treason against the fatherland. The army was proved to be involved.

The Roman - He has no current connection with the Malachy prophecy unless in a pique of bravado he chose the name Peter II. Then head for the shelters.

As the product of the Spanish organisation Opus Dei, he would be their crowning glory, applying the rigour of their reactionary conservatism with the vigour of the the previous Spanish Inquisition. And only fair, after Opus Dei bailed the Holy See out of its financial crisis of the 80s in return for special autonomous powers and the beatification in 1992 and canonisation in 2002 of their founder Jose Ecrivas. Both John Paul II and Benedict were close to this controversial organisation - Benedict giving a shocking proof of his association when he agreed to their offer of accommodation at their headquarters during his visit to Sydney.

Angelo Scola Archbishop of Milan Italy 70

If the Italian cardinals had their way he would be Pope and if Imams could vote in the conclave his broad ecumenism, that includes a genuine embrace for Islam, would assure him the papacy. On the strength of one essay alone Good Reasons for a Shared Life (published in the magazine of the Oasis Foundation - - in which he argues for a religious, political and economic rapprochement between Christian and Islamic communities) I would also add my vote.

So probably the sanest outcome of the conclave would see Scola selected.

My Bet

I am sure you would like to believe that your correspondent would not be superstitious enough to give Malachy the time of day but remember my Irish grandmother -

So through Irish eyes (and smiling) I conclude and pray that the most likely of the favourites to be elected Pope will be Odilo Pedro Scherer - Peter the Roman.