More Shake-Up

Discussing the changes earlier with one of the Stormtroopers, he had a very relevant thing to say.... We were going into a breakdown of ethnic and language groups working from names mentioned and wondering how B16 would attain a balance, say, between Anglophones, Italians and Portugese-speakers.

After holding forth at length, he responded by asking, simply, "Do you really think he gives a shit about that?"

And, you know what, in a nutshell, that's the point to keep in mind. If adherence to rules were the big thing, the cardinals would've never elected a 78 year-old with a controversial record and some pretty serious health problems. All those drawbacks -- and the "what ifs" -- become irrelevant when a man's qualities render him to be the best for the job; I've spoken about the Ratzinger tendency toward "healthy risk" before. It's looking like what we'll see at play here. Prepare to be surprised.

As April ended, who would've thought that the Grand Inquisitor unpacking boxes in Rome right now would be Bill Levada? Papa Bear's too smart to be pigeonholed.... As he starts to rock 'n roll, keep that in mind.

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