The Changing Papacy

In addition, he didn’t have that grandfatherly air about him as Pope John Paul II had. Even Catholics in my age group have admitted to me that Pope Benedict XVI had a somewhat…off putting…resemblance to Darth Sidious aka Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars movies. In a day and age of great media coverage and screen time available everywhere from telephones to bank walls, that isn’t exactly the most glamorous likening to bear. That is not to say that the Papacy is clean and clear of such associations—famously Pope Sylvester II is told to have sold his soul to the devil to rise to the heights of spiritual and scientific knowledge, having introduced Arabic numerals to Western Europe and being credited with the invention of the pendulum clock. However, something tells me that neither legacy, nor visage, nor history will turn out to be the real reason for his resignation—the first in about six centuries—nor do I actually wish to speculate upon the matter.

The second question that immediately comes to mind once the circumstances of the ferula passing from one man to the next is…well…who is going to get the hat next? When John Paul II died, it was widely believed that Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria might ascend to the papacy. Many were excited at the prospect of a modern day black—African—pope. There is also Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana to consider. Both are prominent African Catholic leaders with strong and, at times, liberal (considering the context) stances on contraception and HIV/AIDS.

There is much confusion abounds considering that most people don’t realize that neither of these men would be the first black pope, but rather the first one in modernity. Purportedly the last black pope was Gelasius I, and the first was arguably Peter. According to scripture, Jesus had hair of wool and feet like brass so it stands to reason that he, along with the Apostles and most if not all of the major New and Old Testament figures were brown or black— many people probably don’t want to hear that (especially coming from a non-religious Jew)— let’s be real here. Regardless there’s a real political consideration at stake here and it’s a bit more transcendent than our American sense of racial tension.