Author: Dick

No, I didn’t go away. I’m still here. But I have to head out to work in about 30 minutes as I am working until 2000 hours. That’s 8 p.m. I don’t know why I used 24-hour time. I hardly used 24-hour time while in the Navy. It’s really easier, though, to use a 24-hour clock as opposed to 12 hour. The whole 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. thing can get confusing.

Why I am rambling on about time, I don’t know. I suppose it has something to do that I have 35 minutes to get to work. All I have to do is pack up my computer and a few things, head to the Sam-mobile and drive about six miles to work. Usually I wait to the last minute to leave though. I am sure that is all of supreme interest to you all, whoever you all are. Anyone out there from out of town? Let me take a look at Stat Counter and I will see.

Well, I see visitors from 28 different countries, the last being the Dominican Republic. The top five countries for visitors to EFD are:

United States. No surprise.

Canada. 25 hits. That’s pretty good.

South Africa. 11 hits. I bet most are trying to find out if Bishop Lekganyane made it rain. That was eight years ago and people are still inquiring.

France. Freedom fries anyon

United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth personally reads my blog.

I have put off my departure for work too long. Time to go. Later gator.

Here I am sitting, waiting to see who will emerge from the Vatican balcony. I really haven’t been out of bed for too long. I “slept in.” That translates to my arising just before 8 a.m. and making calls for 30 minutes trying to find someone to whom I might report my sick leave for the day. Upon completing that one task, I promptly hit the bed once more. Sleep is vastly underrated.

During the middle of the night I slipped on something by the stove and did a split, just catching myself on the counter which prevented a fall. As a result though I am kind of sore today but otherwise all right. So I didn’t play hooky to see if a Pope would be chosen. Cheese Louise! I don’t think I have ever called in sick for some televised event though I can admit to having announced my sickness for a day for reasons of much less import. Some folks don’t play hooky. I do. It’s good for you. Not habitually mind you. But I think it was Ann Landers or perhaps her sister, Dear Abby who advocated taking a sick day. Hey, people get sick of work.

I am not Catholic …  Wait, someone is peeking out the curtain of the Vatican balcony. It doesn’t matter to me, in a spiritual sense, who is chosen Pope.

But to some of the nearly 1 billion Roman Catholics worldwide it does matter who steps out on that balcony. And whether you want to believe it or not, our world is not of a one-world government but rather an interconnected community. There are perhaps two handfuls of people whose ascendancy to a position of leadership has significant global effects. the president of the U.S. is one, the leader of the Russian Federation is another. China, India and a few other world leaders of other significant countries are also among the governing “elite.” And then there is the Pope, the leader of the teeny, tiny nation, The State of Vatican City.

Oh, here it is now.  To paraphrase the late great Pigmeat Markham, “Here comes the Pope, Here Comes the Pope … ”

The name announced: Cardinal Mario Bergoglio, from Argentina, born Dec. 17, 1936, Pope Francis. The first Catholic leader from the American hemisphere.

“Brothers and Sisters, good evening,” said the now former Archbishop of Buenos Aires. “You know that the charge of the conclave was to give a bishop of Rome. “It would seem that my brothers went to the end of the world to choose him,”

Ba-dump!

I am watching NBC coverage. All major networks are covering it. He is the first Jesuit priest to become Pope, from what we gather from that coverage. Gazing at his entry in Wikipedia, Pope Francisco, had his share of controversy. He was accused of conspiring with the brutal dictatorship, which took over Argentina in 1976, of the kidnapping of two Jesuit priests. No evidence was ever found to prove the allegations. This was also during the era of the so-called “Dirty War” in which 20,000 people were killed or “disappeared.”Bergoglio also was likewise stung by criticism of failing to stand up to the state-sanctioned brutality.

Argentina is 77 percent Catholic, according to NBC’s Brian Williams, although the CIA World Factbook stated the country is 92 percent “nominally” Catholic. Wikipedia says 89 percent of the Argentine population is Catholic. So, there’s no telling I suppose. The nation’s ties with the church go all the way back to the South American country’s beginning. The first Argentine constitution of 1853 allowed religious freedom and offered state financial funding to the church. That document also started a state patronage system for religious authorities which was only changed in the mid-1960s.

Bergoglio is seen by church observers as being very conservative on issues which include abortion, gay marriage and birth control. He has stood at odds with current Argentinian leadership on some of those matters. The stance of Pope Francis on just those three issues will say a lot about the future relationship between the world’s Roman Catholics and the rest of the globe. He is also known for his compassion. What will that say about his leadership in the future?

On a personal note, I find the history of the church and of its leaders fascinating on certain levels. I am not Roman Catholic. My background is Southern Baptist, some of whose members aren’t the biggest fans of papacy from the start. Millions of people both nationally and worldwide have followed this story and will continue to devour this story. I enjoy writing about large stories and applying my thinking into these events. I still like to learn.

That is it! Time to edit. I hope to write about a different topic next time. Happy Pope Francis Day.

The world’s media is gathered in Rome waiting to see who they can prematurely name as Pope. Sorry, that was a bit cynical and mean. But as the black puff of smoke that rose today signaling no Pope had been chosen, I’m sure one or two journalists were heard to say: “Thank God. Now we can file our stories and get on with our drinking!”

Journalists sent on a story of such proportions really do have quite a task coming up with new and different stories about the man who would be Pope or finding skeletons in a College of Cardinal member’s background. That is, the best journalists do. Those who treat such an assignment as a junket are not doing themselves or their outlet a favor by just “calling it in.” Of course, if you really hate your paper or news channel and you are off doing your last story for that outlet, then I suppose all bets are off.

It looks like the A’s cardinals are kicking up the most dust there in Rome today, or at least a cardinal’s mother from Austria and a cardinal from Australia.

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn’s 92-year-old mother said she doesn’t want her son to be chosen Pope because she fears she wouldn’t see him very often. She also told Reuters that her son “would not be up to the bitchiness” that is a product of normal Vatican intrigue.

Aussie Cardinal George Pell made a verbal faux pas by saying Pope Benedict’s abrupt resignation was “slightly destabilizing.” That apparently played to the Romans as a criticism of the now Pope Emeritus. Hey, the past Pope was German. What’s the sweat off an Italians’ noses about?

Management and continued fallout from sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are seen to be the biggest issues a new Pope will have to deal with. That and being the world’s most renown religious figure. The cardinals from over the globe may or may not go against picking a “Vatican insider,” according to the linked L.A. Times piece. It seems like one just can never get far enough away from the politickin.’