The End Of The “Pope Menu”

The death of Pope Benedict puts an end to the strange – and, if you ask me, vanity-driven – situation of a real Pope – the one in office – being, er, the Pope, whilst an ex-Pope – the one not in office – clings to the prestige of the position, in no small measure because he was terrified of being called what everybody will call him anyway: a Celestino (a common way, among well-educated Italians, to indicate a person in power who cowers and betrays the duties of his office).

Amazingly, there were people until this morning who, whilst calling themselves Catholic, thought that they could decide who is Pope. They took the Vatican Menu and found there two plates: the Pope and the Emeritus, both coming in white. So they decided that the Emeritus would be Pope, and the Pope would be, I don’t know, the wrong guy.

Then they wrote messages everywhere, saying: “if you watch the 40 hours video marathon I have linked to here, it will show very clearly that two and two is five, pigs fly, Francis is an usurper, and Benedict is the real, as in “the guy in charge”-Pope.

The very guy who was supposed to be in charge always said that Francis, not him, was in charge, and even praised his work (may the Lord forgive him for this). Therefore, this was hard case of wishful thinking or, rather, wishful not thinking. It was a strange situation. It reminds me of the Decembrist revolt, with a bunch of dreamers (the moderate dreamers; there were much worse people among them) who wanted Konstantin as Tsar, when Konstantin himself wanted Nicholas to be the Tsar. I don’t know what the Decembrists were thinking: perhaps that Konstantin was kept prisoner in some obscure cell, and forced to renounce under duress?

Anyway, all this theatre is at an end now.

There is only one Pope around. He is a thoroughly horrible person. We hope that he dies soon and somewhat resembling normality comes back. We also reflect on what horrible punishments the Church and the faithful have called on themselves, by indulging in the subversive or outright revolutionary fantasies of both the V II years and the even worse years that followed it.

I seriously hope that nobody will come out now with some outlandish new theory, like that Benedict has not died, but is hidden in a dark cell somewhere in the Tierra del Fuego together with Jim Morrison, or that he is Pope from heaven, or from purgatory, or from wherever he is now.

Sad as this death is, at least there is one problem less now.

Of course, this is not the end of wishful non thinking, because wishful non thinking seems to be a necessity for some. They will enlarge the ranks of the Sedevacantists, those quite funny people who believe that the Church has been kidding with two billions Catholics for 60 years now.

You know what? Reality can harsh to look at in the face. But it is still preferable to creating an artificial one we have dreamed about because we don’t want to suffer.

Let us suffer instead, and pray more, and do more penance.

We were never told the Earthly Jerusalem would always be immaculate.

RIP Pope Benedict XVI

News announced this morning here in Europe.

Death occurred at 9:34 Rome time.

In your charity, pray for the poor guy.