How are liberals preparing for the new papacy? The headline says it all: “BC experts see need for weaker papacy.” Who needs to the weaker papacy? The Church as a whole or the liberals themselves?
They sound a lot like the Democrats last year when they realized that they were not going to gain control of the White House or either chamber of Congress. They were telling the Republicans they should govern the country as if it were the Democrats who had won and the GOP who had lost. Why? Because they election showed the nation was divided. Since when hasn’t the nation between divided between two parties? When was the last time either party had won everything in a landslide? It doesn’t matter. The party with the most votes wins and they have control.
Now many of you will object that the Church should not be treated like a political entity and you’re right. But that showcases how these people are thinking. They want the Church to be run like a political entity, with a need to create consensus and to rule according to majorities. But what about Truth? Where does that enter in? As Catholics we’re supposed to be believers in a Truth that transcends popular trends or whoever holds the office of the pope.
You can also be sure that if this so-called group of “Boston College experts” thought that a liberal was about to be elected pope, they would be demanding more centralized authority, warning conservatives that they should unify behind the papacy, trying to heal the divisions evident in our Church. In other words, when it’s a conservative pope, it’s his job to give up his rightful authority to heal divisions, but when it’s a liberal pope, it’s everyone else’s duty to be dutifully subservient to that same authority.
