UNITED STATES
Chicago Now
By Christoffer Bell, Sunday
In the Name of the Pope, the Cardinal, and the Priest who Touched Little Timmy
As white smoke billows out of the chimney chute of the conclave, 1.2 Billion Catholics around our cerulean globe raise their hands in celebration of the dawning of a new era and the appointment of a new Pontiff; Pope Francis. “Out with the old and in with new” is a technique utilized by corporations to assuage the contemporaneous concerns of shareholders in times of trouble. And similar to the smoke and mirrors act thrown out by capitalists is the one being thrown out by the theologians. What is being talked about is the new pope, but what isn’t being talked about is what happened to the old one.
Two months have passed, and rumors continue to circulate as to why Pope Benedict XVI abdicated his responsibilities and the papal throne; the first pope to do so in over six centuries. Was it his health? Did divine intervention from the Pope’s boss give him a sign that he was needed somewhere else? The questions and requests for explanation became lost in the cries of a crowd who cheered for their new leader, but I find the Vatican’s response of, “Well we don’t know why he resigned, but look, here is our new leader let’s talk about him” sitting inside my stomach about as well as a three day old Cool-Ranch taco.
Think about it. How dirty does a corporation have to be in order for a person who has dedicated his entire life to it, to look at clandestine reports that he has received as the head of the organization and say, “You know what…nope…can’t do it.” Compounding concerns is the fact that the leadership of some of the most nefarious companies in the word decided to go down with ship instead of abandoning it. For instance, look at the hegemony of Enron. Even with the feds breathing down the Carlo Franco adorned necks of the executive board, they decided to play the scene out until the final curtain fell.
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