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	Cardinal Is First-Class Pope Material By Steve Lopez Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles CA] April 6, 2005 I wasn't going to say anything until a reader noticed the same thing I did in a story about Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony. His Eminence, flying to Rome in the Pope's final hours, was stretched out rather comfortably in first class. "I know that it's a little early to be nitpicking about these things," said a reader named Carol. "I thought at some point … you might want to do a column about this, because I think it's just shameful." In the photograph Carol is referring to, Mahony was sitting with his flack, Tod Tamberg. The cardinal, with his eyes closed and rosary beads in his hands, has his comfy seat tilted so far back that he appears to be crushing the woman in the row behind him. This may be a bit presumptuous of me, but I think it's only fair to ask the obvious question: Where would Jesus sit? You don't have to have spent your formative years in Catholic school, as I did, to know that — if he hadn't walked across the Atlantic — Jesus would have flown coach. Generally speaking, it's always better for a man of the cloth to sit with his flock than with his flack. On the other hand, now that the church is in transition with the death of Pope John Paul II, maybe it's high time for a pope who sees himself as a first-class kind of a guy. Mahony is one of 117 cardinals from around the world who, in choosing a successor, will chart a new course for an institution often criticized for being out of touch with its own followers. Mahony may be reluctant to suggest it himself, but what the church really needs is the man Pope John Paul II referred to as "Hollywood," and I'm more than happy to sing his praises if it boosts his chances of moving to the Vatican. That's right, I'm backing Cardinal Mahony as the next pope. Let me explain. Even though I often disagreed with Pope John Paul II, I respected him for having been unapologetically steadfast in his conservative views on abortion, homosexuality, birth control and divorce. The man believed what he believed, and he stuck to his principles rather than bend with the political breezes. But church attendance is down, the number of priests is dwindling, Catholic schools are closing, anti-gay teachings have brought cries of hypocrisy, and millions of people died of AIDS and starvation while the pope preached against condoms. Besides that, you can't get an annulment unless you're Frank Sinatra or former Los Angeles Mayor Dick Riordan. The church needs to realize it's in trouble. Big trouble. I heard on the radio that Ireland, a longtime priest factory, now has to import padres because the home-grown variety is drying up. What the church needs, more than ever, is a politically progressive, media-smart leader who can aggressively market the institution even as he keeps a tight lid on its darkest secrets. Mahony was born for this job. As for the progressive part, Mahony has been more open-minded than many high-ranking church officials on the subject of homosexuality and on marriage for priests. On the way to Rome, he spoke of a push for a less centralized church. I e-mailed Mahony flack Tamberg, by the way, to ask about flying first-class, Mahony's reform ideas and his chances of becoming pope, but I got no response. He may have been busy lining up votes for His Eminence. As for marketing genius, Mahony has no peer. He single-handedly brought the Rog Mahal into being, raising a whopping $200 million that might otherwise have gone to schools and social services for the poor. Mahony sold crypts under the altar at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for up to $50,000 apiece, hawked paving stones for $5,000, peddled wine under the cathedral's name — and accomplished all of this while managing one of the biggest church scandals in modern history. The most amazing thing about the scandal, in fact, is that Mahony continues to pass himself off as a national sex abuse reformer, even as he zealously stonewalls investigators trying to get to the bottom of cases involving priests accused of molesting young boys. Alleged victims have pleaded and prosecutors have screamed for the cardinal to open up his files on accused priests. So have attorneys handling the 544 civil claims pending against the archdiocese. Mahony shuts out their cries, and yet he endures, head high. He's Teflon. He's Hollywood. He's first-class. Could we call ourselves good Christians if we didn't share him with the world?
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