It's Hard to Be Pope

I don't think it's easy being infallible in matters of faith and morals.

I find the Papa Ratzi Post to be a good source for news on Pope Benedict XVI, and sometimes I wonder how he handles the "stuff" that is thrown at him.

A professor of Feminist Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, has reportedly announced that the Pope is "not our pope" because, I'm guessing, he upholds the consistent Catholic teachings about the all-male priesthood, about contraception, and about abortion. I didn't read much into the story because I have no interest in it. But I have to wonder: Based on these issues, have any popes been "our pope"?

Others have problems with his stance on evolution. Pope Benedict XVI said,

The purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin. ... We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.

Benedict simply believes that God is "maker of heaven and earth," but does not attempt to scientifically explain Creation. Whether God created all things as they are in six 24-hour periods, whether He guided an evolutionary process to bring us about, whether He used a huge stork to fly a diapered Adam to this earth -- it doesn't matter. The fact remains that God willed each of us into existence.

A critic, however -- a liberal Catholic named Andrew Sullivan -- wrote,

Now we have Benedict in charge and the rush back to the Middle Ages, already seen in fundamentalist Islam and fundamentalist Protestantism, looks as if it is going to be endorsed in the Vatican. I expected reactionary radicalism from Benedict. But this kind of stupidity? ... And so we return to the 19th century.

I don't understand such reactions, other than to say they surely come from the unfaithful. What sound-minded Christian believes Benedict's view on Creation is "reactionary radicalism"? How is that "radical" coming from a pope? Does it contradict the Church's constant teaching? Would it be more in keeping with Catholicism to say, "Who knows how we got here? It's probly all just a big accident an' stuff"?

Should it surprise us if the pope is Catholic? Absurd!

I would be tired of all the crazy criticisms if I were Pope Darren. I'd be tired, oh so tired. No wonder popes -- when they aren't sitting down -- have to walk around using that "pope pole," that sceptre or staff with a crucifix on top. They would never get anywhere without leaning on the cross of Christ.