New Pope!

I'm also sad that the new pope is white. I was really rooting for a Filipino pope because, despite my obvious bias, there are an CRAZY amount of Filipino catholics. There are at least 68 million catholics in the Phillipines, about 80% of the population and the annual baptism total for the Philippines is higher than the totals for Italy, France, Spain, and Poland combined. Perhaps that has more to do with the Phillipines' overpopulation and large rural population... but still that's a lot of new Catholics every year. I couldn't find figures on Filipino catholics in the US, but according to the 2000 census, Filipinos are the second largest Asian group in America, at 1.8 million (and another 2.3 million are "part" Filipino). If anywhere near 80% of those are catholic, that's a lot of Flip catholics. Estimates are that the number of Filipino catholics world-wide increased by 104% between 1995 and 2000. I say that since the whites have been spreading their religion in foreign lands for as long as it's been around and if they really want to recruit more, having a non-white pope would be a good move on their part. Also, I just like the idea of a little brown man who plays mah jong and loves Don Ho sitting in the Vatican.

Betel nut's not allowed in the Sistine Chapel. That's why.

I should clarify that I'm not necessarily disappointed at the choice of Pope, simply because I don't feel like I'm an involved enough Catholic to justify an opinion one way or the other. The "oh well" was more of a "ho hum." But I will point out that the new Pope kind of, maybe just a little bit, looks like he could be the Devil.

There's been speculation about what the new pope's impact will be for Catholicism. I'm more interested in what this means for the "Left Behind" series.

sean, what about betal nut whores?

i enjoy the fact that the new pope was pro-hitler as part of the hitler youth brigade or whatever that movie 'swing kids' nattered on about.

Since having Nazi parents doesn't prevent you from becoming governor of California, I don't think being in Hitler Youth should prevent you from becoming the pope, either. Besides, Pope Benedict XVI just wants to dance!

Darth Ratz

They should have waited until today to elect him. It's Hitler's birthday!

I didn't know Filipinos chewed betel nut. I'd never even heard of it until I was at Kelly's house one day in high school. Maybe it's an elecano thing...

If you grind up betel nut and mix it with water do you get betel juice?

*GROAN*

Anyway, in order to try it, you'd have to first find Betels For Sale. That can be hard to get your hands on, these days.

I await my pun-ishment.

I'm not sure, Matt, but from what I've read about it, you're sure to get a nicotine-like buzz... and heavy use can lead to a host of not-so-fun side effects.

If betel nut is actually a nut, the most obvious side effect for me would likely be an agonizing death.

it has little to do with color, and more to do with philosophy. if less "colored" bishops and cardinals followed marxian liberation theology, the Holy See would itself be quite colorful. Until then, the Papacy shall remain as european as anti-semitism and as white as rush limbaugh's audience