Will the next pope be a Canadian? Vatican insider thinks so

Surprising speculation from the panting heart of Rome! Noted Vaticanista Sandro Magister has just published a "classroom exercise" in which he predicts the next pope will be a cardinal from the New World. In yesterday's Chiesa, he wrote:

The metamorphosis underway in Catholicism worldwide is such that, if one wished to do a classroom exercise, the candidate for pope who most corresponds to it today is without a doubt Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet, 68, multilingual, the former archbishop of Québec, which is one of the most secularized regions of the planet, a talented theologian of the Ratzingerian school, now the prefect of the Vatican congregation that selects new bishops, and above all for many years a missionary in Latin America.

Sr Magister's argument, concluded by that paragraph, is that the Church in Europe is moribund -- no argument there -- but "coming back strong" in the United States and growing by leaps and bounds in Asia and Latin America.

Walt confesses to being surprised by Sr Magister's rose-tinted view of the state of the Church in the USA. Some of the most poisoned fruits of Vatican II have been harvested in the USA. I refer to "clown masses" and other liturgical abuses, the plague of perverted priests and bishops and the ensuing cover-ups, the ferocious feminism and the general prevalence of "cafeteria Catholicism" amongst those -- espeically poewr-hungry politicians -- who have the nerve to call themselves "practising Catholics".

It's enough to make you think that the mainstream Church in the USA -- the majority of Catholics who accept Vatican II and all its errors -- has surrendered completely to the philosophies and forces of secular humanism.

But then, just when a traditionalist might be on the brink of despair, along comes a true leader like Francis Cardinal George, the Archbishop of Chicago, who has the courage to stick his head above the parapet and stand up for the freedom of the Catholic Church to preach and practise Her Faith as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Just last month, Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, did the same thing, in the face of the Ontario government's forcing Catholics to make room in their schools for "gay-straight alliances", so called. The "anti-bullying" bill -- truly a bullying bill in disguise -- is now law, but the Cardinal made his stand and made his point. Catholic voters won't forget.

So, perhaps Sr Magister is right. Even in the namby-pamby mainstream Church, which tries so hard to be politically correct and not offend apostates, heretics and infidels, there are some who are beginning to say we have gone too far down the road to a secular, humanist, post-Christian society. If one of them is chosen to fill the shoes of St. Peter, so much the better for the Church and for the world.

Nos lecteurs d'expression française sont priés de lire "Exercice d'école sur l'identité du prochain pape".

Toronto cardinal condemns Ontario government promotion of "gay-straight alliances" as attack on religious freedom

Last week Walt told you how another self-styled "Catholic" politician -- Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty -- wants publicly-funded "Catholic" schools to allow the use of the soubriquet "gay-straight alliance" for "anti-homophobia" or "anti-bullying" clubs, if students so choose. Walt's choice would be "hug-a-queer clubs". But if the students want to use a heavily politicised phrase which comes to Canada from the American "LGBT rights" movement, McGuinty has no problem with that.

Who could have a problem with such a progressive concept as a "gay-straight alliance"? The Roman Catholic Church, that's who. Yesterday Thomas Cardinal Collins, the Archbishop of Toronto called the latest ukase from the Ontario Ministry of Education an attack on religious freedom. Which is exactly what it is.

"Why," asked the prelate "is an Act of the Legislature being used to, in a sense, micromanage the naming of student clubs? If the government at Queen’s Park comes in, the law comes in, and says this approach is going to be imposed across the board, anyone, any school, any person, any one student anywhere can trump the principal on this thing, this is...remarkable. Where’s the flexibility? Where’s the inclusivity?"

His Eminence is angry not just because of moral problems with the concept, but also because until Friday's announcement by Lauren Broten, the Minister of Education, the Catholics thought they had a deal with the McGuinty government to handle the issue in their own way. Cardinal Collins had spoken personally with the premier about the matter, and other church officials had been in ongoing discussions with the Liberal government over the new "bully law", so were blindsided by the minister’s unilateral announcement.

Christina Blizzard, writing in the Toronto Sun, calls the move "a breathtaking ambush... with far-reaching implications". Ms Blizzard also calls the last-minute amendment to the proposed legislation a remarkable display of hypocrisy on Broten's part -- her children go to a Catholic school -- as well as the pseudo-Catholic McGuinty, whose wife actually teaches in the Catholic system.

"As professionals, as politicians and as parents," the article continues, "they are well aware why the Catholic system exists and what its values are. [As Cardinal] Collins pointed out, if McGuinty tramples Catholic rights, he’ll walk over anyone. 'If you can do this to one group, you can do it to others.'" [My emphasis. Walt.]

In his press conference yesterday, Cardinal Collins said the Church was still taking legal advice as to the feasibility of mounting a court challenge under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Such an action would be on behalf of the majority of parents -- not just Catholics but parents of all faiths and no faith -- who told recent hearings here they opposed the "gay-straight alliances" and the Liberal government's continued pushing of the queer agenda. The issue is nothing less than one of religious freedom.