Even after death ...

News about the death of the Pope still catches my eyes. Now what baffles the cardinals is choosing the next pope. There has been no pope like John Paul II, and certainly the one to come must encounter a lot more challenges than any other popes of their times.

First we had a pope of many milestones. During his papacy, John Paul II was the first pope who drew the biggest crowds in history when he paid a visit to Manila, visited a mosque, addressed a Muslim audience at a invitation of a Muslim leader, visited a synagogue and ski(though it is not necessarily a challenge to the next pope~~)! Many of the things that the Pope did were rather ground-breaking. The new pope, therefore, has to be able to lead the 1.1 billion Catholics around the world and able to help orientating the church in the ever-secular-growing era.

Catholicism has moved south to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, while the population of Catholics in Europe and North America is on the decline. Given this changing demographics, there is a pressing need that the new pope should have the capacity and consciousness to show concern for the world church in the regions where Catholicism is growing. This probably explains why there's speculation that the next pope would be a non-Italian.

Then comes the unresolved scandal of sex abuse in the US Roman Catholic clergy. I've come across several reports about the grief and anger expressed by some Americans. There's criticism that the Pope died without dealing the scandal adequately. The victims are left with no apology and there’s even question whether he ever fully came to grips with the seriousness and magnitude of the crisis within his church in the States. Unless the Vatican goes on with its resistance in addressing the scandal, it is likely that the new Pope is expected to address the American scandal very early in his tenure.

More importantly, in my opinion, one of the criteria in choosing his successor, ironically, has NOTHING to do with his spirituality! Well, this is no celebrity contest. No doubt. Yet no popes have walked out to the world as much as John Paul has. No popes have ever been exposed to the spotlights as much as John Paul has. He is such a leader who had charisma and public persona. It would be hard to imagine having a pope who is shy or sensitive to the camera and the public. Nope! He HAS to be media savvy! Or else how can he carry on what the one who preceded him was doing? Or should he necessarily hold the same or similar belief as his predecessor???

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Royal Wedding

The wedding of the Britain's Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles, which has been hit by several glitches, may clash with the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Reports say the Royal family may postpone the wedding if the funeral falls on Friday. Haha~~ I bet both Prince Charles and Camilla Parker would be the last persons who object the idea of going ahead as the attention would be dispersed by the funeral of the Pope. In that sense, they would not HAVE to be in the spotlight … Maybe they could have a private wedding ... haha~

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Inside Vatican

Enjoy watching clips about Vatican City. Check this out at National Geographic:
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/vatican/