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| Study After Velasquez’s Portrait of Portrait of Pope Innocent X (l953) by Francis Bacon |
The Times listed
Peter Appiah Turkson of Ghana (“he suggested that condom use was worth
considering for married couples in which one partner is H.I.V.-positive,” the Times remarked),
Timothy Dolan (archbishop of New York, “When he was archbishop of Milwaukee,
Cardinal Dolan authorized payments of as much as $20,000 to sexually abusive
priests as an incentive for them to leave the priesthood,” the Times further commented), Marc Ouellet of
Canada and six other as “early front-runners” for the
papacy (“Successor to Benedict Will Lead a Church at a Crossroads," NYT, 2/11/13). Naturally The Screaming Pope himself has been thrown into the mix by
numerous readers of the blog. The choice would be distinctly ecumenical to the
extent that he would be the first Jewish fellow to be appointed to such a
position. To the extent that he's a closet liberal and intellectual shock jock
who supports the use of ribbed condoms to maximize sexual pleasure and, as a
creature of habit, is definitely turned on by the idea of allowing women into
the priesthood, the choice of The Screaming Pope would allow the church to
extend its reach to a far wider audience. The Screaming Pope would, in
addition, be the first Pope in modern times to have included Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom in his library (along
with Salo, Pasolini’s filmed
adaptation of the work). Recent news reports have emphasized the difficult
nature of a job which entails so many duties, but let’s face facts. While
Benedict recently got points for using Twitter, The Screaming Pope regularly
uses Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and hundreds of apps. He is known as a multi-tasker
who can be on the phone, on-line and on the treadmill as he goes about his
Sisyphean routines.
