Reinventing Catholicism

The Pope has announced that he is resigning.  Hallelujah!  This is now a pivotal opportunity for the church to experience a complete overhaul and for Catholicism to save itself from — itself!

The Catholic Church is in trouble.  Membership is waning.  Huge churches are either consolidating or closing all together.  Young men and women are no longer feeling the urge to enter the priesthood or the convent.  And the church is drowning under billions of dollars in lawsuits involving pedophile priests and decades of sexual abuse.

Although the Catholic Church is steeped in years of tradition, it is “tradition” that has the church still living in the dark ages and many modern Christians simply going astray.  Divorced Catholics are shunned by the church and turned away from Holy Communion.  Women are still considered “2nd Class” Christians and are limited in their role in the church.  And despite a mob of gay priests who have preyed on young boys for decades, the church still pretends homosexuality doesn’t exist.

The College of Cardinals has announced it will meet sooner than later to select Pope Benedict’s replacement.  If they are smart, they will select a reformer who will quickly bring the church into the 21st Century, successfully deal with the pedophile priest problem and give distant Catholics a reason to return back to the fold.

WHO MIGHT BE THE NEXT POPE?

Cardinal Peter Turkson

Considered a “people’s person,” the 64-year-old cardinal from Ghana has emerged as perhaps the top favorite to be the next pope. If selected, Turkson would make history by becoming the first black pope in 1500 years.  He says his biggest challenge as pope would be to maintain orthodox Catholic doctrine while “at the same time knowing how to apply it so that you do not become irrelevant in a world that has continuous changes.”  He said the Church must “evangelise” those who had embraced “alternative lifestyles, trends or gender issues.” Turkson also wants to clean house, acknowledging that the Vatican needs to “restore and repair” an image that has been “badly compromised by recent scandals.”

Cardinal Marc Ouellet
As prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, which oversees the handing out of mitres, the multilingual Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet is one of the most powerful men in the Vatican. The 68-year-old former archbishop of Quebec, who was appointed to the third most important job in the Vatican three years ago, has the power to make or break careers. His position makes him a natural candidate for the papacy.

Cardinal Francis Arinze
Francis Arinze, who was born in Nigeria on November 1, 1932, has long been touted as a possible pope. His ability to get along with those outside the Vatican has been widely praised, with one colleague remarking of his charm: “The beautiful thing about the cardinal is that he can say the hardest thing with a smile on his face and not offend people.”  However, during an appearance at Georgetown University in Washington, Arinze was booed for equating homosexuality with adultery and divorce, and claiming such sins mocked the family. At 80 years of age, he may also be considered too old to take over the papal responsibilities.

Cardinal Angelo Scola

Italians would be ecstatic to see one of their own back on the papal throne after Polish and German popes.  Scola, the son of a truck driver, was born on November 7, 1941 in Lombardy.  Ordained in 1970, he holds doctorates in philosophy and theology and was professor of theological anthropology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. He was appointed bishop of Grosseto in 1991, patriarch of Venice in 2002, proclaimed cardinal in 2003, and appointed archbishop of Milan in 2011.