What would you MOST like too see in a new Pope?

[Jamison]

Since John Paul II will be replaced sometime soon, what political stances or qualities would you like to see in the new Pope?

Here's what I'd hope to see:

A Pope that's fairly Progressive and that would firmly oppose *'s wars and policies just as John Paul II strongly opposed communism.

The Pope does seem to hold a good amount of political sway in the world to an extent and it would be great to see a Pope that blasts the current administration for the atrocities in Iraq, and for the poverty, lack of health care, and corporate pandering here at home, just as our dying Pope blasted the communists for lack of civil liberties & freedoms. Even if a Pope like this were to come to power, I'm not sure it could help very much, but it would be nice to know that they were looking out for our best interests.

Discuss...

[crispini]

1. Color me crazy, which of course I am,

but I'd love to see a pope who has a profound awareness of environmental issues, the fact that we are THISCLOSE to killing our planet and maybe already even have done irreversible harm, and was willing to take action about it.

Yeah, radical I know (for a zillion reasons) but you asked! ;)

[Donailin]

2. I heard something very interesting this morning

it is not doctrinal that the next Pope should be a Cardinal, he (the he part will remain intact) could also be an archbishop or even Bishop. The editor of a Vatican news paper suggested a young archbishop of Russia, although he would not name names.

I find this interesting and somewhat political. Word is that he has been holding on to make this possible. However, he may also be holding on for Divine Mercy Sunday which is the feast of St. Faustina, a polish nun who had visions of Christ telling her to create this feast day where a sort of indulgence would grant eternal life to those who observed the day and received absolution and communion. John Paul canonized her five years ago in 2000 and the first Divine mercy Sunday was celebrated in 2001.

Interesting stuff.

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. The Pope doesn't even have to be a bishop.

They can elect any Catholic male. But it's extremely unlikely that the college of cardinals will select a pope from outside their number.

[randr]

3. A catholic who recognizes that the anti-christ is loose

and his name is GWB.

[DistressedAmerican]

5. NOT THIS GUY!

[TyeDye75]

6. Someone who will take a more pragmatic approach

to the use of contraception

[Warpy]

7. I'd like to see a little humility

when it comes to making pronouncements on things no celibate male has ANY business talking about, like reproductive health for women.

[johnfunk]

8. Someone who will back the right of priests to marry...

... and crack down on pedophile clerics.

[TahitiNut]

9. Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Cuba

Yup. Ubetcha. O8)

[manic expression]

10. a Pope 100% against the disgusting missions

around the world. Missionaries are base and vile, and their actions create situations of disharmony and hatred. They must be stopped.

Also, another poster said environmental issues are big, and I agree.

Opposing Bush and being progressive about gay marriage, reproductive rights, etc would be nice, too.

Ultimately, I don't care because the Pope will not affect me much at all and I don't think he can change other things too much, but this is kind of a resigned wish-list, if you will.

[napi21]

11. I'd like to see a Pope who would recognize what the pedofilia

by priests in the US has done to the Church here. I respect John Paul II, and I think he was a wonderful, and very interlligent leader, but I don't think he completely understood the magnitude of damage those actions by US priests has done to the Church in the US, and around the world.

I would love to see another younger Pople, like Phon Paul II was when he was first elected at age 59. He really did make a lot of changes to make some of the Church teachings more applicable to current times, and I think a younger man might continue that course.

[bklyncowgirl]

12. As a lapsed Catholic I would like to see..

1. A Pope who continues John Paul's mission of social justice and peace with the youth and energy to promote the ideals of world peace and cooperation.

2. A Pope who recognizes the equality of the sexes and who works toward gender equality in the church with the ultimate goal of ordination of women and allowing priests of all genders to marry.

3. A Pope who takes a more pragmatic and in my view more moral and responsible policy toward birth control.

If the new pope does these sort of things, he might even win this lapsed Catholic back to the fold. By the way, sadly, I don't see this happening.

[pscot]

13. A woman

n/t

[brook]

14. A progressive Pope.

One who will recognize the need to serve the more diverse society that exists today.

IMO, priests should be allowed - even encouraged - to marry - and to live in the midst of their congregation instead of some 'ivory towered manse'.

Women should be given a true equality in the hierarchy.

The Pope should be an activist for the environment, human rights, medical care and education on a global level. He should champion tolerance and ethics as building blocks of a well-lived life.

That's my wish list.

[leftofthedial]

15. an atheist

[whirlygigspin]

16. a nice jewish boy?

Jean-Marie Lustiger: Second Jewish Pope

By UWE SIEMON-NETTO, UPI Religion Editor

"France was stunned when Pope John Paul II named Jewish-born Jean-Marie Lustiger as archbishop of Paris.

"You are the fruit of the Holy Father's prayer," the pontiff's secretary told him...Could it be that the cardinal-electors will now stun the world by choosing Lustiger as next pope, the first Jew to occupy St.Peter's See since Peter himself?

Lustiger,whose parents died in Auschwitz, has always insisted that, though he had converted to Christianity at age 14, he was and remained a Jew: "I was born a Jew and so I am.For me, the vocation of Israel is to bring light to the world. That's my hope, and I believe Christianity is the means for achieving it."

There is a remarkable conversion dialectic in Lustiger's life.He had himself baptized because he was so impressed with the Catholic faith of his foster parents, who brought him up after his real parents had been deported from Paris in 1940. In return, Lustiger has made it his mission to convert -- or, rather, re-evangelize -- France and by extension Europe in an unorthodox way.

While a parish priest, Lustiger wrote a memorandum to archbishop of Paris, Cardinal François Marty.In it he proposed a revolutionary strategy for bringing Christianity back to France, once called the First Daughter of the Church.He insisted the church must abandon any pretense of power and convert culture instead.

As George Weigel, the pope's biographer, commented on this plan: "This meant taking the gospel straight to the molders and shapers of French high culture, the thoroughly secularized French intelligentsia.The hardest cases should be put first and France should be reconverted from the head down."

According to Weigel, Lustiger believes this memorandum must have found its way to the Vatican and contributed to his promotions to bishop of Orleans in 1979, archbishop of Paris in 1981 and cardinal in 1983.

If so, Lustiger's strategy is bearing fruit.No sooner did he ascend to the Paris See than he targeted intellectuals, preaching to them every Sunday evening at his cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris.This year -- more than two decades after he inaugurated this sermon series -- the influential Figaro newspaper ran an eight-part series about Christian intellectuals finally resurfacing in France after a very long internal exile: it simply wasn't considered chic to be a man or woman of faith.

In France, the rest of the country has always followed the intellectuals' path.It is now fashionable again, even for leftwing thinkers such as Regis Debré, Ché Guevara's companion, to speak of the need of religious instruction at school, though the government blocked the mention of God and Christianity in the draft of the new European constitution.

The French church, once an institution of immense power, has become a mission church, and her sisters in other part of the Continent are following her example.Indeed, that mission takes place chiefly in the once almost hopelessly secularized urban centers, where there are now first signs of a tender spiritual renewal.

That, too, was Lustiger's brainchild.Since Europe's conversion has top priority for the Catholic Church, the election of this formidable preacher and thinker is still a possibility, even though, at 77, he is no longer of an ideal age -- and though popular superstition holds the last pope will be of Jewish descent and call himself Peter II."

[leftofthedial]

20. LOL

[kskiska]

17. No one seems to mention Pope John XXIII anymore

He brought a breath of fresh air into the Vatican, modernizing the church. Everyone loved him. He was much more charismatic than John Paul II. After him, they regressed back to the 13th century.

[Mz Pip]

18. I would like to see

a pope who has a respect for science. Pope John Paul II came out a few years ago and acknowledged evolution. What took so long??

I'd also like to see a Pope who will do more than just talk about abstinence as the only method of birth control and prevention of desease. I was really angry when the Pope refused to allow the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Celebacy should be abandoned. Having a wife and a family does not diminish one's capacity as a priest.

This anti-gay crap has to stop too.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[kweerwolf]

19. A pope who understands human rights ...

... are about human rights for ALL persons.

I bristle whenever some commentator refers to John Paul II's record on human rights. I cannot see him as a great advocate for human rights when his stance toward women is nothing short of draconian and he fans the flames of gay-bashing by making statements such as calling gay marriage "an ideology of evil."

Also, a pope who will speak for the earth and not just its people would be nice. The Bible verse about "be fruitful and multiply" and having "dominion over the earth" have be used to give some "Christians" carte blanche to pollute and decimate the environment.

[fujiyama]

21. I want to see a Pope

that does the following:

John Paul II did a great thing in condemning anti semitism and appologizing for the history of it in the Catholic church.

I want the next one to build upon that and just as forcefully appoligize and condemn homophobia and bigotry over sexual orientation.

I'm not expecting the church to change its views of gay marriage or abortion. At the same time it would also be refreshing for a Pope to admit that contraceptives do save lives, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that happening.

[liberal43110]

22. Let's see....

I'd like the next pope to be a woman.
I'd like the next pope to be non-celibate.
I'd like the next pope to be non-white.
I'd like the next pope to be non-European.
I'd like the next pope to embrace human rights for all humans, including homosexuals and women.
I'd like the next pope to disconnect the concept of procreation from the act of sex.
I'd like the next pope to embrace reproductive rights of women.
I'd like the next pope to promote the use of condoms in the name of health and safety.

[thebigidea]

23. bigger, supremely impractical hats

[Tweed]

24. Even as a Catholic

I have to laugh at that one.

[incapsulated]

26. Nah, the hats have been done...

Let's work on extremely long, satin pointed shoes that curl up at the ends with various bells and whatnot at the tip.

[kodi]

25. female genitalia. its past time for women priests and someday, a pope.

i think it is profoundly dangerous for the world that religions are controlled by men.