Non Habemus Papum

[Stavros]

Bent banks, dodgy priests, cheeky butlers- you just can't get the staff these days...

[Prospero]

At least no Papal bankers were found hanging from any bridges during his ... what is it... reign?Period in office?

[robertlouis]

Bent banks, dodgy priests, cheeky butlers- you just can't get the staff these days...

They should follow the logic of governments everywhere and appoint someone who knows nothing about the post.

How about a black lesbian atheist? :whistle:

[Prospero]

Leading bookies giving odds of 666 to 1 against Richard Dawkins getting the job

[Stavros]

Ratzinger got the job as a severe Conservative, because the Roman Catholic Church sees its world threatened by 'militant atheism', the 'challenges' of human reproduction and homosexuality, and by the internal arrangement of its finances which have external links that it cannot control, though the Vatican finances have been a scandal since the Borgias if not before. The successor will need to be just as Conservative, if not more so, unless the Cardinals mimic a politician like David Cameron and suddenly decide that social inclusion is going to retain believers in the way the Tories think it will win them votes. I doubt it. As usual, it will be Conservative or Reformer? European or 'Other' as in African or Latin American.

Does it matter?

[Prospero]

It would matter if - somehow - a real liberal slipped through the net of ultra conservative cardinals. MOST unlikely though. And if an African candidate gets the job he'll surely be even more conservative than Ratzinger.

[sukumvit boy]

That's all folks!

[robertlouis]

It would matter if - somehow - a real liberal slipped through the net of ultra conservative cardinals. MOST unlikely though. And if an African candidate gets the job he'll surely be even more conservative than Ratzinger.

Can you please describe a "real liberal" within the narrow context of Catholic Cardinals? I know everything is relative, but still.....