New Pope

White Smoke! And the throngs go crazy!

Just waiting to find out who it is. Is it the ex-Nazi? I'm still betting on my man. Was Vegas giving odds? I wonder what the over/under was.

** update **

Doh! It's the ex-Nazi!

In all fairness, all youths in Germany were required to join, but still. Isn't that a bad PR move considering the Catholic church's ambivalence to the holocaust? Surely there were a lot of other qualified cardinals who were not members of the Nazi party.

Word is, this new pope is uber conservative. Apparently he did learn a thing or two about jack boots while he was a Nazi, because he was John Paul's right hand man for crushing dissent and free speech on church doctrine.

The name he chose is Benedict XVI. LOL. That does have a certain ironic flavor.

It's interesting the way the Catholics alternate old and young popes. This guy is only destined to be pope for a few years, just so the church can move past John Paul. Then they'll get some guy in his early 50's for a longer haul. Hopefully, by then, they'll be ready to pick a more socially progressive pope.