Ratz in the City

Dear brothers and sisters, I announce to you a great joy: We have a Pope! The most Eminent and Reverend Lord, the Lord Joseph Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Ratzinger, who takes to himself the name of Benedict the Sixteenth. ~Cardinal Estévez

I am a self-professed big fan of Dan Brown and one of my favourites is Angels and Demons. The plot of this book centres around the sudden death of the pope, which was later shrouded with conspiracy theories. Some claimed that the pope was actually murdered but the speculation could not be verified since all requests to conduct a post-mortem on the pope were denied – until our protagonist, Robert Langdon came into the picture. As is Dan’s unique style of writing, the twist in the plot came in the least expected way – it turned out that the antagonist was none other than the camerlengo.

“Faith and science”, that’s the theme of the whole story. Since time immemorial, we have been debating on the possibility of striking a balance between science and religion. During the 16th century, a judicial institution, the Inquisition, was established by the Church to punish “heretics” by coercion and torture; when Galileo’s discoveries supported the Copernican model of the universe, the Church dismissed the idea as heretical. Such were the olden days when the progress of science was suppressed by fanatical beliefs.

In the story, the pope was portrayed as a liberal thinker, who seriously supported any scientific development which can benefit mankind. Unfortunately, his chamberlain, the camerlengo, was not too ready to embrace science. He believed that the progress of science has eroded the people’s faith.

“Medicine, electronic communications, space travel, genetic manipulation… these are the miracles about which we now tell our children. These are the miracles we herald as proof that science will bring us the answers… God has become obsolete…”

It was then that he realised something had to be done to restore the people’s crumbling faith. At the climax of the story, the camerlengo performed a “miracle” in the bid to save the Vatican City from an anti-matter time bomb…

Following Pope John Paul II’s death on 2 April, our imaginations run wild; speculations abound (thanks to Dan), albeit in not-so-far-fetched a manner. Some Vatican watchers claim that the date announced is not that of the actual day of the pope’s death. This is allegedly to gain the sympathy from the public and especially the conservative sects, the Opus Dei, for instance. (Hmm, that makes me think of The Da Vinci Code…)

Personally, as an atheist, the pope does not concern me as much as my neighbour, Brother Amoeba who lives down the drain. Merely mention the pope and the image of a frail old man with an awkward looking skull cap would immediately pop up in my mind. But after all those accounts, I just can’t help respecting the man who has touched the hearts of so many people; the man who is revered by the world, regardless of their religion. Hence, there is no reason to doubt that Pope John Paul II is a better role model than George Bush.

Also, the shenanigans in the Vatican City, the holy of holies, never stop to amuse me. I keep wondering why on earth would a group of old men cram inside a chapel with all the windows locked and the doors heavily guarded by the Vatican guards clad in funny-looking pyjamas. To me, this level of secrecy makes no sense at all. Why should the College of Cardinals be worrying about the leak of the results when suffocation is a bigger issue at hand?

The insanity doesn’t just stop there. Here are among some of the past events which never cease to baffle me.

“The longest conclave began in 1268 in central Italian Viberto and lasted two years, nine months and two days. The cardinals had been unable to reach the two-thirds majority required even after they were given drastically reduced food supplies. Only when incensed residents began dismantling the roof above the election room did they elect Pope Gregory X in September 1271 as the conclave feared a deluge of the first stormy autumn rains.”

“A conclave held in 1314 in Carpentras, southern France, proved especially dramatic. Impatient mobs set fire to the bishop’s palace where the crimson-robed conclave members were conferring, causing them to flee.”

Then there is the curious crowd gathering outside the chapel in the square just hoping to watch white smoke billowing from the chimney. Heck, the last time any smoke ever billowed from it was long before I was born! In fact, it was set up there only before the conclave. Obviously, the chimney served no purpose at all even in the winters during the period of twenty-seven years.

This recent conclave has set some new records. Dear Ol’ Ratz is elected as the 265th pope in less than twenty-four hours, one of the shortest conclaves ever held in history. At the age of 78, he is the oldest pope elected since Clement XII in 1730. By the way, John XII, who was elected at 18 in 955 was the youngest pope. Whoa! A year younger than me when he was elected! So, I was seriously wrong about popes being only old men!

As is the nature of human, the election was greeted with tributes and criticism. It happens that Pope Benedict XVI is a controversial pope who stated the use of condom to prevent AIDS is “a kind of behaviour which would result in at least the facilitation of evil”. He is also against abortion, euthanasia and feminism. Besides, he has, by and large, offended a handful of other religious groups. In March 1997, Ratz called Buddhism an "auto-erotic" spirituality that threatened the Catholic Church.

As if he has not sparked enough sentiments, he argued in a document that “only in the Catholic Church is there eternal salvation”. I may have a limited vocabulary because the only word I can think of to describe Ratz is “arrogant”. How then, can such a spiritual leader lead the Church towards world peace?

Frankly speaking, Ratz is far out-shined by a lot more unsung heroes out there. These are the ones who are not showered by limelight even though they reserve more credits than the primate of Italy. No, with his current track record, Ratz is yet to impress me.