The Pope's a Catholic, Head for the Hills!

When Pope John Paul II died it took the liberal press a few days before they dared attack him. The new pope, Benedict XVI, had a shorter honeymoon. Only elected yesterday, Joseph Ratzinger’s conservatism has brought out the worst in the media-cracy. They seem surprized that the College of Cardinals didn't elect Ellen DeGeneres.

One of the most egregious pundits was Andrew Sullivan, formerly of the New Republic progressive journal. (The following is based on the excellent blog Professor Bainbridge.)

Sullivan in an interview on NPR had this to say about the new pope:

“It would be hard to over-state the radicalism of this decision. It's not simply a continuation of John Paul II. It's a full-scale attack on the reformist wing of the church. ... and the attack on individual political freedom is just beginning.”

Yesterday I wrote about Cardinal Ratzinger’s remarkable attack on moral relativism. Sullivan saw it differently.

[Ratzinger] “raised the stakes even further by his extraordinarily bold homily at the beginning of the conclave, where he all but declared a war on modernity, liberalism (meaning modern liberal democracy of all stripes) and freedom of thought and conscience.”

And what was the Cardinal’s war on modern liberal democracy? Perhaps Sullivan was referring to Ratzinger’s position on the Kerry candidacy:

“A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia.”

Commenting on the American political system, Cardinal Ratzinger described the “American model of church-state relations as more hospitable to religious truth and institutions than European models."
AMEN to that!

Sullivan’s deepest feelings about the new pope are grounded on his homosexuality. Andrew’s primary gripe is about “the impermissibility of any sexual act that does not involve the depositing of semen in a fertile uterus ....”

With Andrew, it’s always about sex.