Why Choosing a New Pope is a Big Deal

When Americans, Canadians and British citizens elect a new national leader through the democratic process, the world’s media announces the new leader, and that’s about it.

When the Catholic Church appoints it’s new leader, the world’s media gathers like geese at a feeding frenzy around the Vatican, waiting for the plumes of smoke to spill out overhead, signalling those in the know will soon tell all.

As with most things about the Catholic Church, much of the process is cloaked in mystery, hidden from the public’s right to know through secrecy and ritual.

That’s quite an accomplishment in the always on digital social media universe which usually spills all, revealing all, even the stuff no one is supposed to know.

But the real question we should be asking ourselves, especially those of us not of the Catholic faith – why should the world care who the new Pope is?

The answer, surprisingly is very social – it’s all about influence.

Billions of people around the world feed, clothe and house the citizens of Vatican City – a separate country, located in Rome, Italy – through their donations to their Catholic Church.

Religion has been declining in much of the Western world, thanks in part to modernization, and a whole new generation of people so wired into technology, they don’t require the faith instilled in oneself by believing in – well –faith.

However, as the rich get richer and the poor ever so more poor, third-world countries have been taking up the slack, and are becoming the followers of the world’s largest organized religion – the Catholic Church.

And although Vatican City is only a few acres in the middle of a small country in Europe, it receives more fiscal support than all the governments in the Western world combined.

So when the Pope asks his followers to do something, he’s got more clout than the biggest and most powerful countries on the planet.

No, the Pope doesn’t have access to “the button,” so he won’t send in his soldiers into some country and try a take-over, nor will he threaten to fire a nuclear weapon and create a new world war.

But he can influence Catholics globally from any one of the thousands of masses he holds throughout his Papal career. Through his lectures, his readings, his blessings and his teachings, he influences his global following in the ways of the Bible – with a little hint of his own personal bias, and will.

It’s also noteworthy that influence is backed by a fiscal machine generating money from every corner of the world. No other government has such a wide reaching tax –base.

And that’s why choosing a new Pope is a big deal.

Regardless of your own beliefs, the military power of the American government, or the threat of nuclear war from North Korea, the Pope has the power of influence over billions of people around the world.

And it’s that influence which makes him a real force to be reckoned with.

Which is why all the world is waiting for a little plume of smoke.

Pope’s Resignation Signals the Death of Faith

For the first time in over 600 years – and only the second time in history – the leader of the Catholic Church has let his instincts – and not God – determine his faith.

Today, the world’s media is buzzing with news that the 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI will resign on Feb. 28.

Sighting “advanced age” as just cause to break with traditions, the Pope announced his retirement while most of the western world was asleep.

Organized religion – particularly the Catholic Church – has taken quite a beating over the years. 

As science and technology continues to advance, and we see the world for the way it really is – and not necessarily how our ancestors once thought it was – we are a world which is losing faith.

With the scandalous $2.2 billion the Catholic Church has had to pay to victims of sexual abuse by their clergy, it’s only continued the downward spiral of organized religion even further.

So news of the Pope’s resignation is another blow to the church, and to religion as a whole.

Most Papal leaders don’t chose their own fate – that’s God’s decision – so the only way they retire is literally by death.

Having a Pope decide his own fate, shows a lack in faith by the one person who’s job it is to instill it in others.

This resignation comes shortly after the Pope began his official Twitter account, and began spreading his religious tweets around the world in numerous languages.

Perhaps the Pope’s own experience with technology has shown him his true age, and in part formed his decision to quit his job so suddenly?

Scientific and technological advances have always clashed with the beliefs of organized religion, yet in the end, it’s the science which has proof to back it’s claims, while religion has always claimed it’s a matter of faith.

From Copernicus that found out the Sun was the centre of the galaxy, not the Earth, as the Catholic Church believed, to Galileo’s first glimpses into the heavens using his own home-made eye-piece – both were banished by the Catholic Church for their scientific discoveries which we know to be true today.

The constant tug-o-war between religious beliefs and scientifically provable theories continues to this day. The whole Right to Life movement sprung forth from religious beliefs about the when a fetus is considered a person, and there is still a controversial movement trying to encourage our public education system to teach we all came from Adam and Eve, not from a Darwin-based theory of evolution, as science as proven.

I remember growing up in the suburbs of Canada’s largest city – Toronto – and every morning, my school day started by reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

I went to a public school, and not being of the Catholic Faith, I never identified with that prayer. I just did it because everyone else did – and being a young kid, I didn’t know any better.

Looking back, I sometimes feel cheated by the very people that taught me to read and write, because they forced their religious beliefs upon me at a time when I was too young to even think of such things. Not that saying the Lord’s Prayer damaged me in some way, but too make it appear a normal part of everyday life for everyone, when it is not, was an abuse of power.

It was only a few years ago that the Lord’s Prayer was officially dropped from the public school system which I went through, as educators finally came to the realization that not everyone believes in the same religion, and maybe there was something unethical in their preaching’s.

Our society continues to evolve and grow as our world becomes smaller, through technology.

Perhaps the time has come for us all to question our faith – and resign our religious beliefs – just as the leader of the Catholic Church did today?

Real Freedom is Only for Those Who You Can’t See

Yesterday, Canada’s highest court ruled in some situations, Muslim women can wear the full face-covering veil called a niqab, while testifying in court, due to religious reasons.

The niqab provides only a slit across the eyes, allowing women wearing it to see, but fully covers the rest of the face.

Canada’s Supreme Court ruled narrowly in favour of allowing the Muslim woman to wear the full-face covering in an Ontario provincial court, as she’s the victim of a horrible rape.

One of the great things about being Canadian, is our acceptance of other cultural and religious beliefs. It’s also our greatest fault – because it doesn't work the other way ‘round.

For years, first responders have had serious reservations about serving Muslim women wearing the niqab. Be it a slight fender bender, a major car crash, a house fire, or – as in the case of the woman who won her right to wear such a garment in a public court of law – a rape case – the job of all first responders is to ensure the safety and security of all those involved.

This requires the ability to SEE with their own eyes the whole situation, including the faces of those affected.

There have been numerous reports from ambulance, police, fire and other first responders, where women in the niqab have refused to remove their coverings.

In at least three Canadian situations, paramedics were forced to wait until the women passed out from their injuries, so they could legally assist an unconscious victim, by removing the niqab, to perform necessary life-saving care.

In extremely oppressed cultures – and you can’t get much more extreme than covering your whole face – they don’t have the openness to accept other cultural or religious beliefs.

So when they come to an open and free country, and are told for their own safety and security, they must uncover their face so we can see them, they refuse.

However, they aren’t dumb – one might argue they are psychotically smart – because they not only hold true to their beliefs, but they use their new found free country’s laws to further those beliefs here. They cry about their rights and freedoms under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms being violated when asked to remove their coverings.

Freedom of all forms of expression – be it cultural, religious, or anything else – is the foundation of what makes this country great.

However, there is always a line which has to be drawn, even when freedom is concerned, for the public’s greater good.

And the public’s greater good isn't served by allowing people to cover their faces where either their own or another’s safety and security is at issue.

Wearing a full-face covering mask – which it essentially is, because it masks the identity of the person wearing it – shouldn't be allowed in any place where you interact with others.

We communicate so much through body language, and facial expressions, covering your whole face really does more harm than good. From signalling your intentions when four cars stop at a four-way stop sign at the same time while driving, to simply going into any store or bank and not being mistaken for a robber or a thief.

balaclava (a full-face sky mask), I’d probably be taken down at gun point by police. I could claim I was just wearing it to protect myself from winter’s chill – which would be understandable in a cold climate country such as we have here in Canada. 

However, I’d probably still be charged with mischief, as we Canadians know what is and isn't acceptable in our society.

So how come our nation’s highest court allowed something which isn't really acceptable in our society for a select few?