jpII

farewell john paul II. rest in peace.

in just over 2 weeks the fun begins as we see who the next pope will be.

although there are favourites for the position there is a saying that "he who goes into the conclave a pope invariably comes out a cardinal".

jpII set up some new rules as to how a new pope is to be chosen (so no phone-ins after seeing how all the candidate perform in a series of "tests") among one of the questions as to the process is whether or not the signal of smoke, to announce if a pope has been chosen, will be used. i hope so there is something to be said for tradition.

it'll be interesting to see what george w bush has to say about it all, as according to jack chick of chick tract fame we catholics are just one step shy of being the servants of hell as far as christian fundamentalists are concerned.
(if you do want to have a read that will raise the hair on the back of your neck, but also give you an insight to the workings of the fundamentalist mind go here - be warned though it is not for the faint hearted.)