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IS THE POPE A CATHOLIC?

Yes, reports Gerard Baker in the Times of London:

What has been most enjoyable about the stunned reaction of the bulk of the media to the election of Pope Benedict XVI has been the simple incredulousness at the very idea that a man such as Joseph Ratzinger could possibly have become leader of the universal Church.

Journalists and pundits for whom the Catholic Church has long been an object of anthropological curiosity fringed with patronising ridicule have really let themselves go since the new pontiff emerged. Indeed most of the coverage I have seen or read could be neatly summarised as: “Cardinals elect Catholic Pope. World in Shock.”

UPDATE. The Independent’s Tony Paterson researches the Pope’s past in his home town of Traunstein, and discovers:

In 1941 Ratzinger was nevertheless forced to join the Hitler Youth because, in that year, the Nazis made membership of the organisation compulsory. He was 14 at the time. However, he quickly won a dispensation on account of his training at the seminary.

Thus should end the whole POPE IS A NAZI!! A NAZZZZIIIII!!! lie. But it won’t. Here’s Maureen Dowd:

The white smoke Tuesday signaled that the Vatican thinks what it needs to bring it into modernity is the oldest pope since the 18th century: Joseph Ratzinger, a 78-year-old hidebound archconservative who ran the office that used to be called the Inquisition and once belonged to the Hitler Youth.

By MoDo, a 53-year-old flyblown archidiot who ran the phone message desk at the old Washington Star and once belonged to the cool clique at high school.

Posted by Tim B. on 04/20/2005 at 10:46 PM
  1. Admittedly, this is really just another chapter in the “How Journalists Have Become Completely Detached From Society” book…basically a religious rerun of the “how the HELL did Bush and Howard get re-elected?! None of us voted for them!” self-delusions.

    Posted by PW on 2005 04 21 at 12:37 AM • permalink

  2. Too bad he wasn’t a member of the Baader-Meinhof gang: the moonbats would be lining up to kiss his Papal slippers.

    Posted by cuckoo on 2005 04 21 at 01:02 AM • permalink

  3. flyblown archidiot

    LOL! I am definitely gonna steal that.

    =^D

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2005 04 21 at 01:41 AM • permalink

  4. “Is the Pope a Catholic” I love it!

    Perhaps they were expecting the cardinals to elect a Muslim.

    Posted by matt on 2005 04 21 at 02:30 AM • permalink

  5. And he is aware of the dangers posed to the Christian world by islamofascism, and thinks multiculturalism is gravely flawed.

    Expect more spittle-flecked invective from foaming mouths.

    What fun!

    MarkL
    Canberra

    Posted by MarkL on 2005 04 21 at 02:31 AM • permalink

  6. It is one more example of lazy journalism.  All of the Hitler youth stuff was known for 64 years already!  What happened after that? What defines him as a person/priest? MSM calls him “Rottweiler”, I bet not one Cardinal calls him that, particularly to the press.

    He has been a priest for over 60 years, did he never do a good thing?  Why did the Cardinals choose him and in only 4 rounds?  This is a startlingly quick election and he must therefore be a stand-out candidate. Why?

    Reading the MSM I will never know.

    Posted by allan on 2005 04 21 at 02:38 AM • permalink

  7. What about this not so subtle example of bias from (the usually excellent) Raphael Epstein on last night’s PM Program:

    While John Paul II was loved and admired despite the conservative views ...

    Of course it’s impossible that he could have been loved because of those views

    Posted by Haslem on 2005 04 21 at 04:06 AM • permalink

  8. Today’s best ABC idio-commentariat assertion: The smiling and cheering thousands in St Peter’s Square was a Vatican-hired rent-a-crowd to provide positive spin for the commencement of the new Papacy.

    Posted by ilibcc on 2005 04 21 at 06:44 AM • permalink

  9. They could make a comment about the right wing sheep cheering or something but a rent-a-crowd for the Pope?

    When’s the mothership coming to take the enlightened to the inter-galactic Marxist utopia guys?

    Posted by Aging Gamer on 2005 04 21 at 08:19 AM • permalink

  10. Don’t you worry.  Gail Collins will have a talk with Maureen.  And then Gail will write “Maureen has addressed the question at issue in a subsequent column”.

    Of course, when someone reads through all of those subsequent columns, all he reads are inane comments about high heal shoes and the cool fashionable people. 

    I get a distinct feeling that Gail’s idea of discussing an issue with Maureen is having giggly talk on the phone about cute guys and fashion mistakes by women they know.

    Posted by wronwright on 2005 04 21 at 10:41 AM • permalink

  11. Ah, MoDo’s column.
    <krustyvoice>I killed MoDo’s column.  Heheheheheheh.
    </krustyvoice>

    Posted by Nightfly on 2005 04 21 at 02:25 PM • permalink

  12. Best headline from the ever-reliable Sun (UK) when Ben 16 was announced.

    ‘Papa Ratzi’

    Posted by Flying Giraffe on 2005 04 21 at 04:43 PM • permalink

  13. Check out the Alan Moir cartoon in the today’s SMH.

    What a prick.

    Posted by Adam B on 2005 04 21 at 06:57 PM • permalink

  14. Times of London? Never heard if it.

    Oh - you mean The Times, published in the UK.

    ‘Times of London’ is like referring to the Australian of Sydney.

    Posted by walterplinge on 2005 04 21 at 07:15 PM • permalink

  15. “Is the Pope Catholic?”
    “Are lefties ****ting themselves in the woods?”

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 04 21 at 08:11 PM • permalink

  16. Although Dowd is now lambasted on the Internet—where she’s regularly referred to as Moron Dud and Modo the Dodo and Stupid Pan Dowdy…

    and MoDope…

    Posted by guinsPen on 2005 04 21 at 10:32 PM • permalink

  17. If she is MoDo, who is QuasiMoDo?

    Posted by blogstrop on 2005 04 22 at 08:01 AM • permalink

  18. #4 Matt:
    Another way of saying “Is the Pope a Catholic” is “does a brown bear shit in the Black Forest?”  Maybe someone from Germany or Austria can answer that one.

    Posted by Stevo on 2005 04 22 at 09:10 AM • permalink

  19. Blogstrop — Gotta be Hurrican Jim Wolcott…

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 04 22 at 10:18 AM • permalink

  20. Adam - agreed on the cartoon.  But are you sure Mr. Moir is a prick?  He may actually be a wanker.

    Posted by Nightfly on 2005 04 22 at 02:12 PM • permalink

  21. Moir has a long history of Hostile Kos-style cartoons. The SMH is a happy home for him, clinging to a left-friendly teat.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2005 04 22 at 05:55 PM • permalink

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