So those of you who know me well, know that I'm a fan of The Pope. Not the actual Pope, Benedict #WHTVR, but a fan of the idea behind the pope: God's sole, infallible interpreter of religion on Earth. Brilliant! In fact, I think it's so great that I want to name my next dog "The Pope" (yes, including the article, although that probably won't happen), but mostly because I want to say "Bad, The Pope! Bad!"
On a side note: I heard someone call their dog yesterday, "Buddha, come here!" So it seems my idea isn't unique (or that Boulder is just unique, and blasphemous).
If you doubt my enthusiasm for the Papacy, ask any of my roommates from senior year of college - which happened to coincide with the last convocation. We held "Papal Pandemonium" which was our version of March Madness. Nerdy? Yes. Fun? Surprisingly so considering our bracket had over 160 possible candidates. (In retrospect, perhaps we had too much time on our hands.)
Recently, the Pope has gotten some bad press over something like child-sex or something. But remember - infallible! That's right, the Pope is infallible. I don't know how that actually works, e.g. has he always been infallible or only after he is elected Pope? does the election confer infallibility upon him? when one Pope dies is his infallibility transferred to the next?
There are many metaphysical questions that surround the details of the Papacy, some of which may help the Pope out of his current...um...sex (rape, sodomy, molestation?) scandal. Like, perhaps, infallibility confers upon him the status that even when wrong in this world, he's infallible in the next? I don't know.
But I do know, that this isn't the first time the Papacy has been embroiled in a scandal (perhaps another reason why I love the Papacy is that these infallible position attracts very fallible characters) and mystery surrounding it. Convocation: what happens in there? (I mean there was enough fodder there for Dan Brown.) Female Pope? Who was pregnant?! Whaaa? Several popes at the same time?
Here's the takeaway: Popes have always been in trouble and have a reputation for being anything but infallible. Somethings just don't change.