Monday, April 18, 2005

Who wants to be a Pontifex Maximus?

A funny thought. A few days ago I heard the official prerequisites one has to meet to be electable as Pope. I checked them out on the internet and here’s who can be Pope, according to a Canadian Religious TV channel:

Technically, any Catholic male who has reached the age of reason, is not a heretic, is not in schism, and is not "notorious" for simony can be elected pope - there is no other requirement for election (although there are several requirements before a person can actually assume the papacy once elected). It might even be technically possible for them to elect a non-Catholic male, if they had reason to believe that he would immediately convert to Catholicism.

So, here’s the funny thought – I satisfy all of the formal requirements but Mother Teresa didn’t. The idea strikes me as ridiculous, especially the bit about having a ‘reason to believe that he would immediately convert to Catholicism’. It is a wonder they don’t include having ‘a reason to believe that she would immediately undergo a sex-change operation’. I guess the conclave choosing an atheist feminist would really mean the Pontifex Maximus would do a fair bit of bridge building!

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