Papal Triviality

I've seen 3-5 minutes of mainstream media's attempt to wrap its brain around what is going on in the Catholic Church.  No big shock here - they have no idea what is going on.  Every news report I've seen has ended with something to the effect of:

"Hopefully, the Cardinals will pull it together and move the Church out of the dark ages" (Read: we, the media, would like a guy who will be cool with homosexual sex and contraception).

I leave the lamentation of such media coverage to other bloggers.


I'd like to focus this post on the inanity of CATHOLICS surrounding the news of the week, and I mean the Catholics that SHOULD get it.

When serious Catholics talk about papal odds and frontrunners, the Church looks trivial.

When serious Catholics talk about conspiracies surrounding the next encyclical, the Church looks trivial.

When serious Catholics talk like the next Pope might not be as good as Pope Benedict (read: the Holy Spirit ISN'T guiding the Church), the Church looks trivial.


When serious Catholics lament the resignation and get mad at Pope Benedict for not sticking it out until his death, the Church looks trivial.

When serious Catholics wonder aloud if Cardinals in the Vatican conspired to force the Pope to resign, the Church looks trivial.


We can't control the media, but we can control what we say.

When we talk about stupid things as Catholics, the Church looks stupid, and the media begins to seem completely justified in its completely trivial coverage of the events that are unfolding these days.

We Catholics can't let the triviality of the media begin to rub off on us.

Keep Calm.  Catholic On.

Here's the recipe for serious Catholics:
1) Pray for the Pope
2) Thank God for the Pope's contributions as he resigns or dies
3) Then pray for the Cardinal electors
4) Then pray for the Pope elected
5) Repeat until the Second Coming