<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>So the Vatican doesn't have a better microphone stand than the man holding the stick mic in front of the Pope's face?</p>— Brett Dolan (@Brettdolan24) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brettdolan24/status/311922124463939584">March 13, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Ummmm....isn't this guy already pretty old. I thought that one of the approaches the church was going to take was electing someone younger that could touch base with the younger generations.
Don't really know what to think of this new Pope. On the one hand he sounds like a humble man who truly cares about the poor but on the other hand he sounds like a someone who is a defender of the orthodoxy. I don't know if the message with electing Bergoglio is that the Church needs to be more humble and care more about social justice or that the Church is going to retrench to demands for reform.
I would have been stunned---in a good way, but still stunned---if the new Pope were African. I've had Italians and "Central" Americans (Mexicans, Salvadorenos) openly use the "n" word in my presence. Maybe because I'm tall, white, blue-eyed (I look "socially conservative", I guess), and easy for them to talk to, they suddenly feel like they can say whatever; but when I give them a stern "WTF, what made you go there?" look, they clam up. Obviously there are few persons of African descent in their native countries, unlike in, say, the U.S.A., Brazil, Colombia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and such. (Italy has more than a few Africans living there but they're marginalized foreigners.) To me it doesn't forgive racism, but it's a common denominator. The point being, I'm sure more than a few people at St. Peter's Square would have been overjoyed if, say, Peter Turkson of Ghana had appeared on that balcony. But I picture at least half of them going from joy to stunned silence like the townspeople in "Blazing Saddles" when their new sheriff came riding up on his Gene Autry horse. Sad as hell, but there it is.
Weird. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Interesting coincidence: The first game televised on @<a href="https://twitter.com/mlbnetwork">mlbnetwork</a> after the new pope was announced will be <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Angels">#Angels</a> vs. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Padres">#Padres</a> (at 3pm CT).</p>— Craig Wieczorkiewicz (@MWLtraveler) <a href="https://twitter.com/MWLtraveler/status/311927296900603905">March 13, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Good for the AMERICAN Continent, Argentinians, Jesuits everywhere. Represent! Do you mean "black" in Spanish or the "bad N word"? People will always refer to each other by the color of the skin and, sadly, no one is going to stop them from doing so. Unless you say "why did you go there" to everyone who does. Also, Mexico is considered NORTH America, sir. There is no CENTRAL America. Why are you adding quotes to "Central"? Is that denoting it isn't real?
