UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
Some have said the Conclave needs to pick a Pope with a MBA degree. As someone who took courses at the Harvard Business School while getting my Harvard Law degree in 1968, the Pope doesn’t need a MBA degree. He can hire all the MBAs he needs. The new Pope needs authenticity and courage and a 21st Century Church management structure, instead of the present 16th Century petty Italian monarchical structure. The new structure, of course, really requires the Conclave to fix a date now for a general council to restructure the Church horizontally, as Cardinal Kaspar wisely has called for.
Even the Person the Popes claim to be Vicar for, Jesus Christ, reportedly thought he needed a horizontal structure in tiny Galilee, and He was Divine, and not just occasionally “infallible”. He also consulted and/or interacted with all, from the poor, the disabled, even sinners, to children, Samaritans and even Roman centurions. His followers listened to and responded to their fellow Christians. When was the last time a Pope chatted with any of the homeless who sleep nightly in the entrance ways of the souvenir shops on the Vatican’s fringes? Meanwhile, the Shadow Pope has commandeered a ten bedroom convent to house his books!
This Conclave will be the Cardinals’ last chance to take the initiative. After the massive media coverage of Vatican scandals, as well as the scandals of Cardinals’ O’Brien, Mahony, et al., the pressure on political leaders worldwide is building on them rapidly to clean up the Vatican’s mess if the Cardinals fail to adopt a concrete plan to do so now, which really necessitates calling for a council on a date certain at the Conclave.
Money may not be the root of all evil, but it seems to be at the heart of many Vatican scandals. This should not be surprising given the Vatican’s long history as an unaccountable and self-perpetuating monarchical clique. For the entire adult life of the current Vatican clique and their carefully selected Cardinals, they could assume comfortably they answered to no earthly power and were financially self sufficient. Not any more, whether they realize that or not!
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