A Warrior Pope

As the College of Cardinals gathers in conclave, everybody with a keyboard is offering advice on the proper criteria of selection for a Supreme Pontiff.  Nobody seems to be deterred by the dearth of evidence that the Cardinal Electors are paying any attention to anyone who hasn't got a seat reserved in the Sistine Chapel.  Why should I be an exception?

The Pope has to be many things to many people.  But, just as John Paul II had a special role to play in the collapse of Communism, the new Pope has a special role to play in the ongoing confrontation between Islam and Christendom of which the War on Terror is part.  Right now the Church needs a warrior Pope.  Nothing less will do. 

I don't mean to suggest that the Pope should don helmet and flack jacket for a tour of duty keeping the peace in Fallujah.  It will be enough if the Cardinals elect a man with the strength of mind to help restore some of Christendom's lost self-confidence. 

As long as Democrats are kept at a safe distance from the Oval Office, America can handle the military side of the West's renewed clash with Islam.  The spiritual and cultural aspects of that clash are the special business of the papacy.  The Church, by which I mean something much larger than the Roman Catholic Church, badly needs aggressive leadership from it's most visible leader, the Pope. 

Europe, once the heart of Christendom, is almost lost to Muslim immigrants and native neo-pagans.  The dirty secret of modern European politics is that Europe must either assimilate those immigrants or submit to demographic conquest.  But the intellectually and spiritually impoverished neo-pagans are in no position to assimilate anyone.  They are too effete even to reproduce themselves.  Unless Europe can reconnect with its spiritual and cultural roots it is doomed and Osama Bin Laden's dream of a world dominated by Islam might well come true. 

The new Pope should be the man best-equipped to lead Europe back to its roots.  The Church must work hard to convert Muslim immigrants and reconvert the neo-pagans.  It has some serious inducements to offer. 

Of all the faiths and philosophies people can follow only Christianity gives us what we long for most -- the sense that the universe is not indifferent to us, that we are welcome, that we are at home. 

Popular cant to the contrary notwithstanding Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God.  Allah is a cold and distant deity and Islam, from its inception, was less a religion than an ideology of conquest dressed up in religious trappings.  The followers of a cruel, indifferent God tend to become cruel themselves.  It is no accident that Muslims have cornered the global suicide bombing market. 

The tripartite God knows what it is to be human.  He suffered and died for our sake.  He permits all the suffering of this world, which seems cruel to us, but we cannot think him cruel.  He took on the burdens of human flesh and shared our suffering in full measure. 

My oldest daughter got to the heart of the matter when she was only four.  She asked me, "Daddy, if God is everywhere why are people sad sometimes?  The neo-pagan can only answer that God doesn't exist or doesn't care, which is hardly satisfying.  The Muslim can only answer, with the Book of Job, that we are far too insignificant to understand God's purposes so we shouldn't even ask the question. 

The Christian answer is the only one that satisfies -- we cannot know God's purposes but we can know that He is ultimately on our side.  We know that because He gave us the strongest and most tangible proof imaginable.

The Church has a message that speaks to human beings of every race, culture and generation.  For centuries that message has changed individual lives and shaped civilizations.  It can and must do so again. 

Back in the Dark Ages, the Roman Catholic Church managed to convert the uncouth Irish and the savage Norse.  Proselytizing is much safer and more comfortable in Europe today.  French atheists aren't likely to create many martyrs. 

The risks associated with trying to reclaim Europe for Christendom are slight and the potential rewards are great.  The next Pope needs to be ready, willing and able to go for it. 

Comments

[nicholas martin]

Ratzinger is Pope !

Perfectly agree with the above article. And if anyone, Ratzinger, Benedict XVI is just the kind of Pope we want. We have a chance now to strengthten Christianity once again.

Let us pray for good health and strength for the new Pope.

Habemus Papam !

[Dan McCuen]

Indeed, Peter got his wish.

Nobody understands what the loss of Europe to Christianity would mean better than the former leader of the Holy Office.

I fully concur that we need intellectual aggressiveness, I would add intellectual ferocity. For decades, Christians have been denigrated as stupid. That needs to change, and rapidly.

[Dan McCuen]

Indeed, Peter got his wish.

Nobody understands what the loss of Europe to Christianity would mean better than the former leader of the Holy Office.

I fully concur that we need intellectual aggressiveness, I would add intellectual ferocity. For decades, Christians have been denigrated as stupid. That needs to change, and rapidly.